Paris - France's lower house of parliament did not pass a vote of no-confidence in the government Thursday, by default implementing a controversial set of economic reforms encouraged by the European Union and strong-armed through by Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
The motion failed with 234 in favour, significantly fewer than the 289 needed to clinch a majority.
“I address you in a spirit of dialogue, but without hesitation:
We will continue with all the means granted to us by the Constitution; we will continue tirelessly with reform” Valls said in an address to parliament prior to the vote.
The failure of the motion proposed by opposition parties, led by the conservative Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, means a series of measures aimed at liberalizing the French economy will go into effect.
The reform package was proposed by Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron and had been subjected to hundreds of hours of debate on the floor of the National Assembly.
Macron's law, as the legislation has become known, sets out a series of measures to change sectors of the economy - such as the legal profession - and softens rules related to opening times for businesses, including allowing opening times on some Sundays.
It also laid out a plan to selling some state assets, including shares in provincial airports.
The legislation is aimed at spurring economic growth in France, which has struggled with mounting unemployment.
Supporters of the plan also aim to send a message to the EU that France is re-structuring some of the core elements of its economic regulations and taking seriously its commitment to lowering the government deficit.
But opposition groups, including traditional supporters of President Francois Hollande's Socialists, said they would vote for the no-confidence motion in protest at the proposed reforms.
“We reject this political blackmail,” said Andrew Chassaigne, a parliamentarian with the Communist party. “There is not a single line of progress in the proposed Macron law, which unravels our social model.”
Valls took the rare step of invoking Constitutional article 49-3, which allowed him to ram the legislation through without a vote, to avoid the risk of failing to gain a majority for the plans.
The article stipulates that a censure motion can be filed within 24 hours of such a move, prompting the parliamentary confidence vote, but putting the law automatically into effect if the motion fails.
“These lies do not create the conditions of trust,” Sarkozy said in an interview with Europe 1 prior to the vote.
“When you use 49-3, it's because you haven't convinced the majority. If you can't convince the majority, you can't convince the French people.”
Sapa-dpa