The vote would be a response to the prime minister’s decision to use Article 49.3 of the constitution – sometimes known in France as the “nuclear option” – to push his government’s sweeping social security budget bill through parliament without a vote.

The article has been used in the past, most recently in 2023 to push through Macron’s deeply unpopular reforms raising the retirement age. But using it can trigger a no-confidence vote in parliament, where a simple majority is enough to topple a government.