No-confidence vote may see French govt collapse

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's 3-month-old government is most likely to collapse this week after the opposition parties launched a no-confidence vote over his pushing through a social security budget in the parliament without a vote.

Barnier on Monday used the controversial Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, known to many as the nuclear option, to force the adoption of next year's social security budget plan when it was obvious that he could not have the majority support for the budget in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.

Opposition parties from the left and far right were outraged by the move and have threatened the Barnier government with a no-confidence vote set for Wednesday.