This Thursday’s session in the French National Assembly went from being one of the most serious moments of the legislature to a procedure with a certain suspense. The day was marked in red. It was the morning in which it would be seen if the newly formed Government would survive by overcoming two motions of censure, those presented by the leftist formation France Insoumise (LFI) of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and by the ultra National Regroupment (RN) of Marine Le Pen. After three hours, long debates and two votes, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu won his first victory after several severe defeats. After 45 minutes the second one arrived. He and his government survived, although it is unclear for how long.
The key, as was already intuited before beginning the debate prior to the votes, was the concession to suspend the application of the reform of the pension law, as the socialists requested in order not to support either of the two motions. The concession, however, did not convince the rest of the left-wing parties (Ecologists, Communists and La Francia Insumisa). Nor to some of the members of LIOT, the group of parties from the overseas territories. And, above all, a small group of deputies from the parties that had theoretically agreed to reject the motion did not like it.
The vote was close. Some of them had doubts. And, finally, seven socialists and a representative of the Gaullist right abandoned party discipline. In the first vote, however, the LFI initiative lacked 18 votes to go ahead (271 out of a total of 577 parliamentarians supported it). The second motion, that of the RN, was much further away and received the support of 144 deputies (the left had already announced that, unlike what the extreme right had done, it would not support the other motion).
The morning was tense, aggressive and somewhat chaotic. But Lecornu held on, made use of the slim margin of around twenty deputies that he had thanks to the socialists, and passed the procedure: “It is, obviously, the moment of truth,” the prime minister launched from the rostrum before the scrutiny. He had had two extremely difficult weeks: two appointments to office, a resignation, and two motions of censure. But his Executive is buying time. At least a few weeks to discuss the budget. “They clearly see the seriousness of the situation we are in. They see well that it is difficult. It was necessary that the debates could begin. They are going to begin,” the prime minister congratulated himself.
Lecornu had defended his position and that of the Executive vehemently. Also socialist support. “Do we want republican order, with debates taking place in the National Assembly, or do we want disorder?” he asked. “Either we enter into the debates or we enter once and for all into the political crisis. And that must be assumed by you. History, in any case, will judge very severely these political maneuvers in which, in essence, the tribune of the National Assembly will have been confused with an advertising tribune,” the prime minister questioned the deputies of the leftist France Insoumise party and the far-right National Regroupment, the two formations that had presented motions.
The interesting thing, as in recent days, was listening to the position of the socialists regarding their important decision. “Our non-censorship today does not constitute a pact at all,” warned socialist deputy Laurent Baumel. “We do not commit to anything, and above all not to vote on a recessive budget,” he added. “With the announcement of the suspension [de la reforma de las pensiones] “They have made a real concession, which represents real progress,” acknowledged the deputy, addressing Lecornu.
The PS, isolated within the left group, will now have to sell its support dearly to maintain its own profile and not be assimilated into the central bloc that supports the Government. The discussion of the budget, which will be carried out without the possibility of resorting to article 49.3 of the Constitution (allows Executive initiatives to be approved by decree), will be long and a trench battle. LFI and the RN have already announced that they will oppose said law and any attempt to prevent the fall of the Executive.
The far-right Marine Le Pen, signatory of one of the two motions, warned the French of “a black year” if the Lecornu Government remains in place. “We will vote without hesitation to censure your Government, because your budget is not a budget,” he declared. The beading project “is a true museum of all the horrors accumulated for years in the drawers of Bercy [sede del Ministerio de Economía]. We wait for the dissolution [de la Asamblea] with growing impatience,” Le Pen stressed.
Lecornu, narrowly saved from censorship, knows that the budget marathon of the coming weeks looks complicated, even with his own majority, more fragile than ever. It was enough to see the low attendance of the central block in the chamber, less than a dozen members. Not even the leaders of the Macronist groups, Modem and Los Republicanos (LR) participated.
