DHAKA: France’s Socialist government won a confidence vote tied to its economic reform package on Thursday that could in theory have caused its collapse amid a damaging backbench rebellion.

A total of 234 mainly opposition deputies voted for the motion of no-confidence, far short of the number required to bring down the government.

The emergency vote was sparked when Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday employed a rarely-used constitutional device to force through a key package of reforms without a parliamentary vote.

He made this decision due to concerns the rebellion from within his own Socialist party would block the reforms, which now automatically go through after the failure of the no-confidence motion.

The reforms extend Sunday shopping and open up key parts of the French economy to competition.

The government says they are vital to ‘unblock’ the euro zone’s second-biggest economy, which is suffering from chronically high unemployment and sluggish growth.

They are also seen as crucial in Brussels, where the EU has urged France to reform in order to bring down its ballooning budget deficit, which is far above European limits.

‘The French people expect us to act. For us to remove blockages. The main blockage is our too-weak growth. It prevents us from creating jobs, from reducing our mass unemployment that is hurting us so much,’ Valls told MPs, The Straits Times publishes this report on Friday.

BDST: 0040 HRS, FEB 20, 2015