The Nupes takes over the Finance Committee

The “coup de Trafalgar” feared by the Nupes did not take place. The FI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Éric Coquerel was elected, Thursday, June 30, chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly. He succeeds Éric Woerth, who went from LR to Macronie at the end of the legislature. For his first media outing under his new mandate, the parliamentarian symbolically surrounded himself with other commissioners from the Nupes, which brings together the FI, the PS, the PCF and EELV. « I will be the chairman of the entire Finance Committee and I will ensure that the power of the Assembly is respected », he promised in front of the cameras. If this post is a victory for the left, it is because it is strategic: the president of “Comfi. can require that any document sent to the authorities and inspections be communicated to him, and tax secrecy is not binding on him. It is he, finally, who judges the budgetary admissibility of the amendments tabled on each text of law.

The election was not without tension or suspense. It took three ballots and as many adjournments, to the chagrin of the cohort of journalists massed in the Salle des Quatre-Colonnes, for the rebellious to be elected. Let’s rewind. It is the members of the « Comfi » who choose their president. With the exception of the commissioners from the majority groups (Renaissance, Modem, Horizons), who abstain, as tradition dictates, since the rules of the Assembly stipulate that the presidency of this commission falls to the opposition. With 151 deputies, the Nupes intergroup claimed the post, as did the RN group, with 89 deputies.

Four candidates have applied for the presidency. Éric Coquerel, Jean-Philippe Tanguy (RN), Véronique Louwagie (LR), and the centrist Charles de Courson, for the Liot group (ex-Liberties and territories). In the first round and in the second, Éric Coquerel, with 20 votes, failed by one vote to obtain an absolute majority (21 votes). Comes the third round. « Les Républicains » request a first suspension of fifteen minutes. Then the RN calls for a second. Rebelote a quarter of an hour later, third suspension, at the request of LR again. « Some have tried last minute tricks, but it didn’t work », recounts the rebellious Manuel Bompard. Jean-Philippe Tanguy, the candidate of the RN, would have, according to his own words, tried to convince LR to withdraw his candidacy to join his.

The idea of ​​a rotating presidency « non-nude forces » between RN and LR was also mentioned, still according to Jean-Philippe Tanguy. LR finally held on. The young far-right deputy lingered for a long time in front of the press, to say all the bad things he thinks of « extreme left »in addition to denouncing a « piracy » and one “discriminating result” in view of the weight of his group. Start an agreement » of circumstance « from the left, while trying to conclude one between the far right and the right, a funny acrobatic act… « The result is logical and proves that the Nupes is indeed the first opposition force in the National Assembly, whatever the RN says », rejoices Éric Coquerel on the contrary. In the third round, and thanks to the withdrawal of Charles de Courson (the centrist did not wish to take the risk of being the fallback vote of LR and especially of the far right), he won the ballot with 21 voice.

work on tax evasion in perspective

The RN had only 11 votes, that is to say its own. “The LRs did not want to join me, this proves that the Republican front is dead: they left someone who does not respect the institutions at the head of the Finance Committee”, dared Jean-Philippe Tanguy after the ballot, adding: “It is a danger for the economic stability of the country. » Claiming to belong to the Republican front against « extreme left » de la Nupes, such is the new strategy of overthrowing the party of Marine Le Pen, well helped in this by the behavior of Macronie.

Because, the day before, the majority agreed with LR and the RN in order to distribute the posts of vice-presidents and quaestors. Macronie and the elected LR voted without flinching for the two far-right candidates for the vice-presidency, with the guarantee in return of depriving Nupes of a post of quaestor which nevertheless belonged to it. Instead of leaving the left its fair representation, macronists and LR therefore preferred to play the game of the RN. An irresponsible choice, which the LREM deputy Jean-René Cazeneuve, general rapporteur for the budget, nevertheless defends: “The configuration of the Assembly calls for doing things differently. If it happens that they vote our texts, we are not going to say “Oh dear, they voted like us” every time! » But from there to electing elected RNs to key positions in the hope of a return on investment, there is a gap that Macronie has crossed in all shame drunk. “In another era, 89 far-right deputies would have shocked everyone. There, obviously, the Nupes is the only one to be indignant, and from the outset the majority agreed with them « denounces the deputy FI Clémence Guetté.

The left forces therefore feared a new LR-RN agreement against Éric Coquerel at the “Comfi”, which did not take place. And now ? “Everything had to be done for Nupes to obtain the presidency. Now, everything must be done so that the various partners have their say and are respected”answers the communist Nicolas Sansu, also a member of the Finance Committee. « We are ready to pass laws that really change the lives of French people, but not measuring spoons or publicity stunts from the government », warns the ecologist Eva Sas, about the future law on purchasing power announced by Elisabeth Borne. Éric Coquerel announces the color: “Yes, my role will be political. This time, the thread will fall on the right side, there will be fewer leftist amendments rejected in this committeehe smiles. The idea is not to go on a witch hunt, but if I can lift the tax secrets to work on tax evasion with the commission, I will. »