The French extreme right will vote in favor of censuring Michel Barnier’s government “barring a last-minute miracle,” as indicated this Monday by the president of the party, Jordan Bardella, Marine Le Pen’s right-hand man.
“We have closed the matter (…) I am forced to announce that we will censure the Government,” Bardella said on RTL radio.
The Executive, which lacks a parliamentary majority, must present the Social Security accounts this Monday and, if, as it seems, it will do so without a vote from the deputies, it is exposed to a motion of censure.
The young far-right politician, headliner in the past legislative elections, assured that Barnier has until 3:00 p.m. to completely change the budget project approved last week by a mixed commission of deputies and senators, where he does have an absolute majority. “But I have little hope that he will be illuminated by grace,” added Bardella.
The statements by the president of the far-right National Group (RN) party come after a weekend of negotiations to try to save the Government, which depends on its 140 votes in the lower house.
If Barnier adopts the Social Security budget without a parliamentary vote, the left will present a motion of censure and, if he adds the votes of the extreme right, the Executive will fall.
In recent days, the head of the Government made some concessions to the extreme right, renouncing a tax on electricity or cutting medical aid to clandestine immigrants.
But the RN considered it “insufficient” and put other “red lines” on the table, such as the subsidy of some medications or the waiver of small business taxes.
Barnier has devised adjustment budgets, given the increase in the French deficit, which will be 6.1% this year, and for fear that international markets will raise interest rates for the country.
In the event of censure by the Barnier Government, the president, Emmanuel Macron, will have to appoint a new Executive, something that seems difficult in the complex parliamentary balance that emerged from the last legislative elections.
Three large blocs, without an absolute majority, are blocked in the lower house, the left of the New Popular Front, Macron’s centrists, now allied with Barnier’s conservatives, and Le Pen’s extreme right.
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