Alarm at the prospect of massive job cuts in the sector has crept into France's debate on the European Union constitution, and EU trade chiefs have threatened to enforce safeguard measures to curb the flow of Chinese imports into Europe.

"The situation is very serious ... for our businesses which make these products, which have already been suffering for a number of years," Devedjian said in an interview with France's Journal du Dimanche, released ahead of publication on Sunday.

He said that France's textile industry, the third biggest in Europe, had been losing 10 percent of its workforce a year even before a decades-old international quota system was abolished in January, opening the gates to Chinese-made goods.

"This could increase by another 7 percent, or 7,000 jobs, this year," Devedjian said.