The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, have received this Wednesday a first warning of how difficult it will be to forge parliamentary agreements in a National Assembly without a majority and in which each opposition group has raised difficult conditions for them Or, frankly, impossible.
Borne presented his government program for the next five years, in a speech in which he recognized that a new era is opening in French politics with the “active search for compromises” in the face of the “unprecedented situation” that opens with a Assembly without a majority of the Government, but with a divided opposition that offers no alternative.
For nearly an hour, he has broken down a series of proposals, beginning with the measures in favor of the purchasing power of citizens that the Executive expects to approve next Thursday after the rise in inflation to its highest level in forty years.
The French “want a government of action” in the face of the complicated international and domestic scenario, said Borne, who has called for a spirit of harmony because “disorder and instability” are not an option.
He has also announced, amid noisy boos from the left-wing opposition, that the government plan to reform retirement pensions is maintained, which will include delaying the retirement age, although he has not specified a specific figure. “We will have to work a little more progressively,” he insisted.
Borne has announced that the State will once again hold 100% of the capital of the energy giant EDF (currently it is 84%) and has resumed the plan to build new nuclear reactors to combat climate change and guarantee France’s energy sovereignty.
Continuing with economic issues, he has promised that they will not raise taxes, he has insisted that full employment is possible and that, as of 2026, it is expected to reduce public debt and that the deficit will be below 3% of GDP in 2027 .
The head of the Government has assured that they maintain the challenge of fighting ambitiously against the climate challenge and has proposed that the remuneration of the leaders of large companies be linked to their companies meeting their environmental objectives.
In accordance with the abundant shouts and boos from a good part of the opposition during his speech, the turn of response has shown that the Government will have to work hard and thoroughly to reach agreements, in which the opposition will sell its support dearly.
The far-right leader Marine Le Pen has highlighted the “feeling of abandonment that the most vulnerable have” and has confirmed that Borne has not submitted to a vote of confidence from the chamber: “He has done well, because we have no confidence in his government “.
Le Pen has said that the government is “out of control” and has stated that, despite losing his parliamentary majority, Macron wields “hopelessly narcissistic” power.
The spokeswoman for La Francia Insumisa (radical left), Mathilde Panot, has described the session as a “masquerade” because the Government has not submitted to the vote of confidence, for which she has reminded her that the four groups of the leftist coalition Nupes They have filed a motion of censure against him. “It is time to teach him the meaning of the word democracy,” Panot snapped at the prime minister.
The spokesman for the conservative Republicans (LR) has seemed to be more conciliatory and has offered to cooperate with the Executive, but only if it responds to his demands to “return authority” to teachers and police, in addition to minimum automatic penalties for criminals, more places in prisons, a brake on immigration and “adjust the expenses (of the State) to the income”.
Something more moderate has been the socialist Boris Vallaud, whose party is also in Nupes, and although he has fled from disqualifications, he has urged the Government to be more audacious in defense of public health, education and housing.
In addition, Vallaud has challenged Borne that, if he is really looking for compromises, the opposition be given enough time to examine the bills and accept their amendments, after in Macron’s first term his absolute majority was accused parliamentary power to stifle the initiatives of the other parties.
The environmentalist Julien Bayou has spoken of “challenging” the Government, since his party doubts that the Executive will fulfill its commitments against climate change, for which he has asked the Prime Minister to “come down from her pedestal”.
The first challenge for the Government will be the debate next week on the measures that the Council of Ministers will approve on Thursday on purchasing power. With the panorama outlined today, the Executive and its parliamentary pawns will have to weave complicated agreements to carry them out.
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