PARIS (REUTERS) - French President Emmanuel Macron has been laying low in the French Riviera this month following a scandal involving his bodyguard Alexandre Benalla that has rocked his presidency.

Benalla had been filmed allegedly assaulting protesters in May, but was kept on payroll and dismissed only after the French media got hold of the video in July. Critics say Macron's office failed to properly punish Benalla or refer him promptly to judicial authorities.

Now, the government's summer break is over, but the affair may have complicated the next phase of Mr Macron's plans to change France, including the Constitution itself.

Mr Macron brought huge changes in his first year in office, revamping the country's tax code and changing labour laws, among other things.

Next up, he wants to lay off 120,000 government workers, and make big cuts to the budget.

Perhaps most ambitious: Change the Constitution to get rid of about a third of the hundreds of lawmakers in Parliament, make the system more proportionally representative, and streamline some of its Byzantine rules.

His opposition claims it is all just an attempt to remove the checks and balances on his power.

His approval rating is in the low 30s.