French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has opened the way for opposition parties to try to topple his government (probably on Wednesday) by saying he will not bring the social security budget to a vote. This is reported by Politico.

Barnier and Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rassemblement party have engaged in a bitter fight over the issue, which could lead to the prime minister's resignation as early as the end of this week.

France is bracing for a reaction from financial markets, with investors saying the country has worse credit risk than Greece, whose debt nearly brought the eurozone to its knees just over a decade ago.

France is the eurozone's second-largest economy and the chaos is likely to send shockwaves far beyond its borders.