Budget: Parliament ready to quickly vote on the "special law"

The Finance Committees of the National Assembly and the Senate have already sent out summonses to their members over the weekend to hear Economy Minister Roland Lescure on Monday and Tuesday and to examine the draft law, even before it has been officially announced by the government.

Having failed in his strategy to bring about a parliamentary compromise on the budget, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has not formally announced that he will resort to this "special law", intended to avoid a French-style "shutdown".

"Starting Monday, I will bring together the main political leaders to consult them on the steps to take to protect the French and find the conditions for a solution," he said on Friday, acknowledging the disagreement between members of parliament and senators on the draft budget.

These consultations began as early as Sunday, with the leaders of the Renaissance and Horizons parliamentary groups, Gabriel Attal and Paul Christophe, who were received at Matignon, according to sources close to Sébastien Lecornu.

According to the same source, the president of the Modem group, Marc Fesneau, and the president of the Liot group, Christophe Naegelen, are being consulted by telephone.

The Republicans (LR) party will be received on Monday, as will the Socialist Party, which has an appointment at 10:30 a.m., the Communist Party at 15:00 p.m., and the Ecologists, presumably around 16:00 p.m., according to sources from each party.

Tightened schedule

Without delay, the government has already drawn up a tight timetable to lead to the vote on this special law in just over 24 hours.

A cabinet meeting is scheduled for late Monday, as soon as President Emmanuel Macron returns from Abu Dhabi where he is making his traditional end-of-year visit to troops deployed abroad.

Debates would begin immediately in the National Assembly with a view to a vote in the chamber and then in the Senate on Tuesday at the end of the day, a government source indicated.

But beyond this short-term law, which will allow taxes to be raised and expenses to be committed on the basis of the 2025 budget, Sébastien Lecornu must find a way out of the budget impasse and avoid further lengthy negotiations at the beginning of the year.

His strategy worked for the Social Security budget, passed on December 16 thanks to the support of the Socialist Party and at the price of concessions on the pension reform, which was suspended, and on Article 49.3, which was rejected.

But the use of this constitutional tool, which allows a text to be passed without a vote except for a motion of censure, is once again at the center of the debate.

"Rear machine"

The right wing is pushing Sébastien Lecornu to use it at the beginning of the year on the state budget in order to quickly get out of a process deemed endless and often incomprehensible by many French people.

"What I am asking of Sébastien Lecornu is to back down and use Article 49.3 to give the country a responsible budget, in line with the interests of the Nation, with less tax and less spending," the president of the Republicans (LR), Bruno Retailleau, insisted in an interview with Ouest-France.

As Philippe Juvin, LR rapporteur for the budget at the National Assembly, explains in Le Parisien: "A special law on Tuesday, then a deal on some basic principles from the negotiation, which could be converted by a 49.3 next January."

Sébastien Lecornu has another option: passing the budget by decree, a process with legislative force that is not voted on by Parliament. However, this procedure has never been used and raises constitutional questions. It therefore appears risky.

Unlike the special law which had already been used last year after the fall of Michel Barnier's government, overthrown by a motion of censure.

She was then supported by all political forces, in the name of stability. The National Rally, the largest group in the Assembly, is expected to vote for it "in principle, because the State must continue to move forward," the party's vice-president, Edwige Diaz, indicated on Sunday on franceinfo.