France's crisis-hit government has narrowly won a crunch parliamentary vote of confidence in its economic reform path, in a rare respite for the deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande.
French deputies on Tuesday voted 269 to 244 in favour of the government's policies, after an impassioned speech by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who vowed to press ahead with controversial spending cuts and tax breaks for companies.
"We are going to continue this path until the end of the five-year term, until the end of the parliamentary term, because the French people want us to roll up our sleeves and for us to be up to the challenge, for them and for France," said Valls to loud cheers.
"There will be no U-turn, no change in direction, no zig-zagging," pledged Valls, defending his controversial Responsibility Pact, with 40 billion euros (A56 billion) in tax breaks for companies, funded by 50 billion euros in public spending cuts.
"Nothing must let us deviate from our commitment to save 50 billion euros within three years," Valls told a raucous parliamentary session in a 46-minute speech that received a standing ovation from most members of his Socialist Party.
However, the vote was closer than a similar exercise after he was appointed in April, when the government won 306 votes.
Attention now turns to a rare news conference by the embattled Hollande later this week, whose popularity is at rock-bottom amid record high unemployment and stagnant growth.
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