ALAIN JOCARD / AFP
Elisabeth Borne at the National Assembly on March 16, 2023, before initiating 49.3 on pension reform
POLITICS – When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Elisabeth Borne will have to face Monday 20 his fifteenth and sixteenth motions of censure since his arrival at Matignon. At first glance, it is difficult to see how the government could rejoice in it and especially use it later. And yet…
If two motions have been tabled, only that deposited by LIOT which is said « transpartisane » raises some hopes in the opposition. Barring a major surprise from the benches on the right, adoption remains unlikely. The executive knows this well and displays its confidence. “No, I don’t think there will be a majority to bring down the government”says Bruno Le Maire in The Parisian this Sunday, while his colleague Olivier Dussopt insists in the JDD on the “very heterogeneous majority without a common political line” who should unite to bring down the government.
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Reassure Parliament
So, since this danger is -a priori- dismissed, you might as well try to transform it to your advantage. First objective: to appease the spirits of parliamentarians dissatisfied with the use of 49.3, even within the presidential camp.
“We should have gone to the vote. Defeat or victory in the vote, democracy would have spoken”thus regretted the Renaissance deputy Éric Bothorel Thursday afternoon, while his colleague from the MoDem Erwan Balanant speaks of“a mistake given the state of our democracy”. The oppositions are more virulent: Jordan Bardella denounces a “democratic robbery”while Mathilde Panot talks about authoritarian shift”. In essence, the same question is asked each time: was Parliament respected?
“A vote will therefore take place, as it should” – Élisabeth Borne, March 16 at the National Assembly
These criticisms, the Prime Minister – who is in her 11th 49.3 – anticipated them on Thursday at the podium of the National Assembly. By engaging the responsibility of her government and de facto depriving the deputies of the ballot, Élisabeth Borne strategically presented them with another, as if to replace it: “In a few days, I have no doubt, the government’s commitment to responsibility will be answered by one or more motions of censure. A vote will therefore take place, as it should. And it is therefore parliamentary democracy that will have the last word.she launched.
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Legitimize reform (and calm the street)
This weekend, these ministers are putting on a coat. Bruno Le Maire thus promises in The Parisian that“with tomorrow’s votes, parliamentary democracy will have the last word”. And Olivier Dussopt to falsely wonder “I still wonder what is more democratic than a Prime Minister who places her destiny and that of her government in the hands of Parliament! », praises the Minister of Labor in The JDD.
The government’s second objective is to transform the motion of censure into a vote for reform. On paper, MPs will officially vote on Monday for or against keeping the Prime Minister in her post.
But, because Elisabeth Borne linked the vote of no confidence to that on the text and because the pension reform will only be definitively adopted after the rejection of the motions, Monday’s ballots – if they end up like this – will be interpreted by the government as a validation of its project. The argument is sizeable for the executive who will be able to oppose this ballot to the social anger which has increased since Thursday.
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However, this might not be enough. Guest of Grand Jury RTL-LCI-Le Figaro this Sunday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused to consider the fight lost even in the event of rejection of the motions of censure. Charles de Courson, depositary of the motion of censure LIOT, underlines for his part the weakening of the executive couple, whatever the outcome of the vote. “If we are ten or fifteen votes short of bringing down the Borne government, it doesn’t matter: it is already dead! »he asserts in Point le 17 mars.
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