Manuel Valls overrides parliament to push through pro-business bill

French prime minister Manuel Valls has for the second time this year resorted to a controversial clause in the constitution to override parliament and ram through business-friendly economic reforms.

The decision highlights the opposition the Socialist government faces within its own camp to reform of the eurozone’s second-biggest economy, as it strives to curb record unemployment and rekindle growth after three years of stagnation.

“It’s not an act of authority, it’s a matter of efficiency for the economy and for French companies,” Mr Valls said on Tuesday. “We need to go fast, we need to reform, that’s what the French are expecting from us.”

The government has faced a political battle in passing the relatively modest deregulation package — whose measures include an extension of Sunday trading times and the lifting of restrictions on inter-city coach services — which has generated 437 hours of parliamentary debate and had more than 1,000 amendments.

Mr Valls first used Article 49.3 of the constitution for the same bill in February, after failing to secure a majority in the National Assembly to pass the measures.

That move, approved by President François Hollande, revealed a rift with rebel Socialist lawmakers opposing the government’s pro-market stance. Hardliners in the party, emboldened by the rise of anti-austerity parties in Greece and Spain, had threatened to defeat what they saw as liberal reforms and fiscal discipline imposed by Brussels and Berlin.

The bill, presented by economy minister Emmanuel Macron, has since been amended by senators before returning to the lower house. The government has added more measures to facilitate the use of temporary job contracts by small and medium-sized companies and cap the amount payable to an employee whose dismissal is disputed in court.

The latest recourse to the constitutional blunderbuss signalled the weakness of Mr Hollande’s government, as well as showing that divisions remain among Socialists despite a show of unity less than two weeks ago at a party conference in Poitiers.

Benoît Hamon, one of the dissenting Socialist deputies, said on Tuesday that the government had caved in to “demands from the European Commission and industrial lobbyists”.

Governments with thin majorities have previously relied on Article 49.3 to pass legislation. Its return to the floor of the National Assembly is a reminder of the meagre political support the Socialist administration can call upon as it seeks to reform the labour market this year.

Tuesday’s use of Article 49.3 is likely to trigger a vote of confidence in parliament by the end of the week, which the government is expected to win. The so-called “Macron bill” will then be sent back to the centre-right-controlled Senate, before returning to the National Assembly for a final vote — or a third use of the 49.3 clause.

The law, which includes measures such as an extension of Sunday trading days from five to 12 a year, should eventually pass by mid-July.