The French parliament on Monday voted down a flagship immigration bill of President Emmanuel Macron's government, prompting his high-profile interior minister to offer to resign over the "failure", reports RFI.
Macron rejected the offer from interior minister Gérald Darmanin to step down, instead ordering him to find new ways to break the deadlock and push the legislation through.
In a stunning setback for the government, the lower-house National Assembly adopted a motion to reject the controversial immigration bill without even debating it.
Prime minister Élisabeth Borne was set to hold an emergency meeting involving several ministers and lawmakers on Monday evening.
After talks at the presidential Élysée Palace, Macron rejected Darmanin's offer to resign and asked him "to submit proposals to move forward by overcoming this blockage and obtaining an effective law", said a presidential official who asked not to be identified by name.
Originally proposed by Macron's centrist government with a mix of steps to expel more undocumented people and improve migrants' integration, the text of the bill leans firmly towards enforcement after its passage through the Senate, which is controlled by the right.
Speaking at the National Assembly, Darmanin defended the bill, which further restricts the ability for migrants to bring family members into France, birthright citizenship and welfare benefits.