French Prime Minister Manuel Valls
© Philippe Wojazer / ReutersFrench Prime Minister Manuel Valls delivers a speech to use the article 49.3, a special clause in the Constitution to bypass parliamentary opponents and impose by decree a labour law reform bill, during its second hearing at the National Assembly in Paris, France, July 5, 2016.
France's Socialist government once again used its emergency constitutional powers to force through a second reading of a controversial labor reform law, which has provoked months of street protests in the country.

"This country is too used to mass unemployment," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parliament, as he invoked Article 49 of the French constitution, which allows laws to be approved without a parliamentary vote. "This is not posturing, it's not intransigence."

Valls said that 800 amendments had been made to the legislation - aimed at cutting down the country's 10 percent unemployment rate - since the first version of the law was driven through the lower chamber, the National Assembly, in May.

The prime minister, on the centrist wing of his party, labeled those who opposed the law, "the coalition of immobility," and said he was acting "in the general interests of the nation."

The National Assembly now has 24 hours to stage a no-confidence vote in the government, but it is unlikely to pass, as most of the Socialist party, and the center-right opposition, have already said that they will not attempt to topple Valls.