President François Hollande told ministers yesterday its planned economic reforms must be pursued, a day after the government resorted to a rarely used decree procedure to head off back-bench opposition to a set of de-regulation measures.

Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said after a regular cabinet meeting that Hollande defended the use of the controversial so-called 49-3 mechanism on Tuesday so as “to move quickly, to lose no time and take no risks”.

It can only be used on one bill per parliamentary sitting.

The de-regulation bill is a bid to kickstart growth in the eurozone’s second economy and will be held up by Paris as proof of its determination to reform as it seeks more time from EU partners to bring its public deficit within EU limits.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.