A curious entry into the parliamentary arena for Michel Barnier. A little ointment for the form, stiffness at the bottom. Summoned by the deputies of the Finance Committee to provide them with various documents that they had been waiting for for months, the new Prime Minister sent them a reassuring letter very late, on Monday 16 September. “I wish, among my priorities of action and method, to establish a close relationship of trust with the finance committees of the assemblies,” He assures, emphasizing that he himself had the opportunity to be a partner and that is why he knows “quality”.
However, he refused to send them the requested documents. And the next day, when the two heads of the finance commission, Eric Coquerel (La France Insoumise, LFI) and Charles de Courson (Libertés, Indépendants, Overseas et Territories, LIOT) turned up at Matignon to consult these newspapers, the same refusal was imposed on them. When they left, the two men, although they were from opposite sides, also told each other that they were not in agreement. “angry”, “stunned” AND “concerned” one or the other in front of what they consider “democratic drift”.
What the deputies are demanding is not, a priori, really confidential. For more than two months, according to the law, they should have had at hand the “separate printout”, that is to say a summary of the appropriations planned for each ministry in 2025. Neither Gabriel Attal nor Michel Barnier have so far wanted to transmit it to them. The new Prime Minister has just promised them one. “provisional version” As for the “ceiling notes” sent by Gabriel Attal to the various ministries on August 20 to calibrate their spending, his successor intends to keep them to himself.
Powers to control government action
The law, however, seems clear. It gives the chairman and the rapporteur-general of the finance committees broad powers to control government action. They can carry out “all documentary and on-site investigations,” and “all information and documents of a financial and administrative nature that they request (…) must be provided to them.”
On Tuesday, in Matignon, Michel Barnier’s chief of staff and the Secretary General of the Government nevertheless rejected all the requests of the Coquerel-Courson duo, presenting the desired documents as “preparatory”, It therefore has no real value. A questionable argument: in his letter to the deputies, the Prime Minister himself indicates that his still unfinished budget project is built “based on the maximum limits decided by the previous government.”
You have 16.92% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
