Police unions and some lawyers criticised the law as well-nigh impossible to enforce as culprits would have to be caught in the act and the line between harassment and flirtation hard to draw.

But Ms Schiappa said: "We know very well at what point we start feeling intimidated, unsafe or harassed in the street."

She cited examples such as when a man invades a woman's personal space - "by talking to you 10, 20 centimetres from your face" - or follows a woman for several blocks, or "asks for your number 17 times".

A cross-party taskforce composed of five MPs has been asked to work with police and magistrates to come up with a definition of harassment that can be enforced by officers on the streets.

The size of the fines was still "up for discussion", said Ms Schiappa, but that it should not be too high so offenders could pay immediately when caught in the act.

The minister said she wanted the statute of limitations in cases of alleged rapes against minors to be extended to 30 years, from the current 20 years after the victim has turned 18.

The proposal was partially derived from recommendations by a working group overseen by TV host Flavie Flament, who last year accused the late British photographer David Hamilton of raping her when she was 13. Ms Flament could not file a lawsuit because the statute of limitations had expired in her case. Mr Hamilton denied the claims and committed suicide in the wake of the revelations.