French parliamentarians voted by 269 to 244 in favor of Valls' government, according to a tally read out by the assembly speaker on Tuesday evening.

Officials had earlier said they expected some 30 members of both Valls' and President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party to abstain from the vote in the 577-member assembly. The Socialist Party has 289 seats.

The prime minister had earlier defended his plan of economic reforms, with Valls seeking to make boost growth without embarking on a path of formal austerity. "To reform is not to break, to reform is not to regress" said Valls. "To reform is to affirm our priorities, while refusing austerity."

Valls called for the confidence vote having expelled two dissident ministers from his government, with another member of the Cabinet leaving voluntarily. Socialist Party members have voiced disquiet with what they claim is a lurch to the right in favor of business.

"Helping our companies is not an ideological choice, it's a strategic choice for France," Valls said in his speech.

Valls also urged the importance of unity, in particular given the threat posed by the far-right National Front, which he warned was standing "at the gates of power."

The French government is tasked with tackling a litany of economic woes, including an unemployment rate that has remained at more than 10 percent for the past five years. The country has a budget deficit of 4.4 percent of GDP, far exceeding the 3 percent limit demanded by the EU.

France announced last week that it would take two years more than expected to get its deficit below the threshold.

rc/kms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)