Government disavowed by its deputies on employer contributions

It was a close call: with 170 votes to 162, the government camp inflicted a defeat... on the government. A remarkable setback, on a key article of the Social Security budget for 2025.

Same thing again early in the evening, on another article specifically targeting apprenticeships and start-ups. Here too, the Assembly rejected the contribution increases wanted by the government, thanks to the votes of the RN and part of the government camp, more divided this time.

The executive has struck a chord by attacking the exemptions from employer contributions, the amount of which has doubled in ten years and is now close to 80 billion euros.

These aids "are becoming too costly", stressed the Minister of Labor Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, to justify reviewing the scale, on the basis of several recent reports. "This is not a step backwards, it is a brake", argued her colleague of the Budget Laurent Saint-Martin, even proposing to "discuss" the expected gain of 4 billion.

Not enough to convince almost hostile Macronists, like Gérald Darmanin challenging the tenant of Bercy: "Don't hide behind your little finger, these are not savings (...) We are not here to increase taxes on companies".

"This is neither a reform nor an economy, it is an increase in the cost of labor," insisted Macronist MP Mathieu Lefèvre, calling instead for a "reduction in spending" via in particular "the reform of unemployment insurance." The Right Republican group also opposed the measure, behind its leader Laurent Wauquiez, for whom "the reduction in charges benefits work."

The National Rally has finally tipped the balance, with its spokesperson Laure Lavalette denouncing a "harsh attack on small businesses".

Only the centrists of the MoDem did not vote for the deletion of this article, in the hope of presenting "another mechanism" against "low-wage traps", explained Philippe Vigier. In vain.

"Splendid isolation"

The result of the vote demonstrates the "splendid isolation of the Barnier government", commented the socialist Jérôme Guedj, who like all the left-wing deputies present found himself defending the executive to chip away at the "untouchable dogma" of exemptions.

A "waste" in the form of "gifts to the bosses", added the Insoumis Hadrien Clouet, calling his opponents "agents of the Medef". Just like the ecologist Clémentine Autain pointing out a right "not on the side of work, but definitely on the side of capital".

Regardless, the message got across: the two ministers repeatedly said they were "ready to make openings" on the subject during the parliamentary "shuttle". That is, during the examination of the text in the Senate, starting in mid-November.

Negotiations have already started so that "another balance can be found, while respecting the budgetary trajectory", indicates a ministerial source, mentioning "other sources of savings" which would make it possible "not to increase the cost of labour".

Conversely, in a more sparsely populated hemicycle, the Assembly adopted early in the evening a series of amendments brought by the left to create a "penalty" on companies with a high rate of workplace accidents, then to extend contributions to dividends as well as to profit-sharing and participation bonuses.

A little later, the coalition associating the right and the extreme right reformed to oblige retirees established abroad to report each year to the French consulate to continue receiving their pension, in order to "avoid fraud".

The future of the changes made to the text is however uncertain, provided that the debate goes to its conclusion: more than 1.000 amendments remain to be examined before the formal vote scheduled for Tuesday 5 November.

If the Assembly does not complete it in time, or if it is rejected, the government's initial version would be sent to the Senate.