French Sunday law debate put on hold

Paris: France's opposition Socialists claimed a rare victory over the centre-right government when parliamentary debate on a Bill to ease restrictions on Sunday business hours was postponed indefinitely.

Examination of the Bill, which aroused fierce opposition among Socialists and some centre-right deputies, had been scheduled to resume on January 15 but was removed from the parliamentary timetable issued yesterday.

Government spokesman Luc Chatel denied there was a climbdown over the Bill but said major debates over an economic stimulus package and constitutional reform, have taken up all the space on the parliamentary calendar.

Socialists said the move, backed by President Nicholas Sarkozy, showed the government was not sure of support among its own ranks.

"The deputies on the right have obviously abandoned the government on this question," said Christian Eckert, spokesman for the Socialist parliamentary group on the issue.

"This plan did not help any social phenomenon that should be encouraged or anything that could have helped economic recovery," he said.

Minister Roger Karoutchi, in charge of government relations with parliament, said there was no space to debate the measures before January 25.