The Fifth Republic still has the means to overcome the budgetary impasse, Philippe Juvin wants to believe. Guest of Sud Radio Monday morning, the LR deputy for Hauts-de-Seine and general budget rapporteur at the National Assembly estimated that the government could succeed in providing France with a budget, even in the absence of a majority in the National Assembly.
“I think we will have a budget because the Fifth Republic is made of reinforced concrete and we have a tool called ordinances. If, after 70 days of debate, we have no result, the government can say stop. At least we would have a budget,” he assured. A way of preparing minds for the hypothesis of a text adopted by an exceptional procedure, due to lack of parliamentary compromise.
A compromise that is indeed difficult to imagine: the elected representative of Les Républicains has brushed aside the prospect of new alliances with the left. “There is no majority so I don’t believe in a miracle, people are not going to agree. When we reached an agreement with the Socialists last year, it cost us so much that we are not going to have fun with it again this year,” he warned on Sud Radio, before emphasizing the subject of the fundamental disagreement: “The Socialists do not want to reduce spending, not significantly.”
According to him, the priority is the recovery of public accounts rather than an increase in taxes. “Increase taxes, we absolutely must not do it,” he continued before announcing his proposed amendment aimed at “suspending the suspension” of the pension reform. “It’s an economic and political error. I am going to propose resuming the progression of the retirement age,” he explained, while recognizing that this position would not make it possible to bring together a majority... And would lead, among other things, to a budget adopted by ordinance.
“The party is over”
An opportunity as much as an inevitability, according to the general rapporteur. Faced with a divided Assembly, where according to him the groups would only move for political reasons in the light of the presidential election, Philippe Juvin considers that Sébastien Lecornu paradoxically has room to maneuver to present a real savings plan. “If the government is censored, it will be censored for political reasons. It will not be for the nature of the budget,” he said. The Prime Minister must, according to him, put “a very virtuous budget on the table. A budget that reduces the deficit.
“How we get out of debt: spend less, work more,” he declared, calling for an executive capable of taking on this speech: “The party is over.” A warning that he intends to make heard to candidates for the seat of President of the Republic. The LR MP recalled having asked the candidates for their programs in order to examine their feasibility with members of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly. “Those who are going to make you promises without telling you how they are going to straighten out the public accounts are lying to you,” he said. An initiative that he presents as unprecedented and that he plans to make public with the agreement of the candidates concerned. “The real question facing candidates today is: how are you going to pay for all this?” he said. He then assured that some candidates have already responded positively, while allowing themselves a deadline.
