THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
Disappointed with the Barnier copy, these ministers are counting on the Assembly for a better budget (photo of Michel Barnier taken on October 8 at the Assembly)
POLITICS – Appeals Chamber. Since the budget concocted by Michel Barnier and the new tenants of Bercy was presented, few ministers are happy with their fate. On the contrary, several of them are publicly expressing their disagreement with the massive cuts imposed in their credits, against a backdrop of unprecedented budgetary drift.
To the point of packing your boxes? Not really. The adage that “ a minister keeps silent or resigns ”, no longer seems really in vogue. For good reason, these government officials, defeated in the first round, are counting on a second battle to impose their views, if not improve a budgetary roadmap. unacceptable » as it stands.
This second theater is the National Assembly. The debates in the Finance Committee, which began on Wednesday, recall the singularity of the moment: the troops who support the government are in the minority, and alliances of circumstances can unravel at any time the project planned by the executive. To the delight of refractory ministers?
“I expect national representation…”
In this context, some hope in any case to do well. This is the case, for example, of Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Guest of the BFMTV morning show this Friday, October 18, the day after episodes of unprecedented flooding in Haute-Loire or Ardèche, and at a time when forecasting services are being singled out, the Minister of Transition ecological enjoined the deputies to counter the planned blows.
« We need a budget that meets the situation. Which is not the case today, I tell you very clearly “, she indicated, before adding: “ I expect the national representation to take up this subject. I don’t know if we still have to wait for tragedies to understand that investing in adaptation to climate change is an absolute necessity. »
The minister, a rare member of the left wing of the macronie within a very right-wing executive, even puts her resignation in the balance. “ I would fight for that. If I don’t have the means, I would draw conclusions “, she explained on the news channel, insisting “ the account is not there, we must open our eyes. »
For the moment, Michel Barnier’s budget provides for severe cuts on missions relating to ecology and adaptation to climate change, on the MaPrimeRénov system for example, or on the Green Fund, this tool which finances green community projects since 2022. Its envelope is reduced by more than half. Message from Agnès Pannier-Runacher: “ We have to be up to the task, we absolutely need it. »
Pressure on Barnier?
A speech that we find, mezza voce, on the side of National Education, where Anne Genetet must carry a particularly unpopular measure, the elimination of 4000 teaching positions (especially in primary education.) While the left and the unions immediately denounced a “ real bloodletting », the minister opened the door to a possible step back… in Parliament.
« The parliamentary debate has not yet started, there may still be developments ”, she indicated in La Tribune Sundayon October 13. If she also assures that the average number of students per class will be the lowest in recent years, Anne Genetet did not fail to point out that “ It is the role of parliamentarians to debate legal texts. » And therefore to correct what is wrong?
In reality, the message from these ministers seems to be addressed to the deputies, of course, but also to Michel Barnier and those who keep the accounts. Like Didier Migaud, the Minister of Justice, Agnès Pannier-Runacher said on BFMTV that she still hoped for a change of footing at Matignon, because “ the Prime Minister was very clear on the issue of ecological debt », « he will take the measure of the subject. »
A few days earlier, the Minister of Justice also explained “ trust » to the head of government to improve the initial copy, the ceiling letters from the former executive which provide for a reduction of 500 million euros at Place Vendôme. This will have to take place by amendment in the National Assembly. Otherwise, “ I don’t see what I would still do in government “, he whispered on Monday on RTL. A way of putting pressure, too, on the Prime Minister. And enough to shine a little more spotlight on the Palais Bourbon.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
