French deputies will examine Wednesday afternoon the motions of censure against the government tabled by the opposition, following the decision of Prime Minister Michel Barnier to force through the new Social Security budget.
The two motions of censure in the government proposed by the left-wing New Popular Front and the far-right National Rally will be examined Wednesday in the French National Assembly from 4 p.m.
The motions were tabled by opposition parties after the Prime Minister Michel Barnier used article 49.3 of the Constitution to force his Social Security budget through Monday.
In an interview with French media on Tuesday evening, Michel Barnier said vote of no confidence would threaten country’s stability.
“The impact of this instability, you will see it immediately in interest rates,” he declares, adding that “nearly 18 million French people will see their income tax increase” in the event of government censorship.
The French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, also claims that “the danger of censorship is that the financial markets panic, and we unravel”while recognizing that “this budget was not perfect”.
A controversial budget
The budget – prepared urgently after the appointment of Michel Barnier by French President Emmanuel Macron in September – aims to reduce France’s budget deficit from around 6% of GDP to 5% next year by cutting public spending by 40 billion euros and raising taxes by 20 billion euros.
A program that Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, described as “dangerous, unfair and punitive”.
“By placing his budget in the catastrophic continuity of Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister could only fail”she declared after Michel Barnier’s television interview on Tuesday evening.
A vote followed throughout Europe
If the vote of no confidence succeeds, it would be the first time in more than 60 years that a French government has been overthrownand Michel Barnier would become the Prime Minister with the shortest mandate since 1958.
Political instability has sent the French stock market tumbling in recent weeks and could further push French interest rates higher, worsening an already colossal debt.
Wednesday afternoon’s vote of no confidence will be closely followed across the euro zonewhere the political crisis in Germany and the upcoming elections in February are already causing great concern, as is the return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House next month.
