Downgrading of French proposal (8)
I believe the answer is:
demotion
'downgrading' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'of french proposal' is the wordplay.
'of french' becomes 'de'.
'proposal' becomes 'motion' (motion is a kind of proposal).
'de'+'motion'='DEMOTION'
(Other definitions for demotion that I've seen before include "Reduction to lower rank as punishment" , "Forced loss of rank" , "being relegated" , "Relegation" , "put down" .)