Macron suffers first legislative defeat in parliament

French government led by President Emmanuel Macron has suffered its first legislative defeat in parliament. Macron's ruling party has lost its majority in the parliament last month. France's National Assembly has rejected a proposal that would have given government powers to demand proof of vaccination or negative COVID test from travellers when they enter France.

The proposal was opposed by 219 lawmakers while 195 supported it. All major opposition parties the far-right National Rally (RN), the hard left LFI, and rightwing Republicans (LR) united against the minority government.

"The circumstances oblige the government to listen to opposition parties which at the moment it has a few difficulties in doing," top Republicans MP Olivier Marleix told Sud Radio on Wednesday morning.

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French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne condemned the obstruction. Allies stressed how the so-called "extremes", far left and far right, teamed together.

"Clear collusion between the extremes, each one applauding the other," MP Maud Bregeon from Macron's Republic on the Move wrote on Twitter alongside a video.

Fellow ruling party Remy Rebeyrotte criticised "an atmosphere like a football match" during the debate where speakers were routinely shouted down. Mthilde Panot, most senior MP in the hard-left LFI party compared ruling party MPs as 'playmobils'. It is an insult that equated them to inanimate toys.