Across Europe, it has been an enduring tension between the clamor for seven-day-a-week shopping and stores that close on Sundays in a nod to earlier times of greater religious faith and hard-earned rest for workers.
But in France on Tuesday, the lower house of Parliament is to debate — and may well approve – a contentious new law that would offer a victory for President François Hollande’s flagship program of economic liberalization. The law includes measures to allow big stores in major tourist areas to open on Sundays and other outlets to offer all-week shopping more frequently.
The package was devised by Emmanuel Macron, a 37-year-old former banker who is now the minister of the economy. Mr. Macron argues that the measures – which he says have provoked death threats against him – would open a major European economy dogged by high unemployment and stagnation.
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The draft law has already consumed almost 200 hours of parliamentary debate, often late into the night, and prompted more than 1,000 amendments. “The time for posturing is over,” Mr. Valls said in a radio broadcast on Monday. “Now we must be responsible and adopt a text that is in the general interest of the French people.”
If it is approved by the lower house, the National Assembly, the law will go to the upper house, the Senate, which may delay approval.
