{"id":314013,"date":"2025-08-03T08:03:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T08:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/314013\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T08:03:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T08:03:27","slug":"french-pm-may-scrap-two-public-holidays-to-reduce-countrys-crippling-debt-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/314013\/","title":{"rendered":"French PM may scrap two public holidays to reduce country\u2019s crippling debt | France"},"content":{"rendered":"

France\u2019s prime minister, Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at reducing the country\u2019s ballooning deficit, boosting its economy and preventing it being \u201ccrushed\u201d by debt.<\/p>\n

Outlining the 2026 budget on Tuesday, Bayrou suggested Easter<\/a> Monday and 8 May, when France commemorates Victory Day, marking the end of the second world war, although he said he was open to other options.<\/p>\n

The centrist prime minister said: \u201cThe entire nation has to work more so that the activity of the country as a whole increases, and so that France\u2019s situation improves. Everyone will have to contribute to the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

France is under pressure to bring its public deficit, running at 5.8% of GDP, under the 3% figure required by EU rules, and to rein in \u20ac3.3tn of public debt \u2013 on which the annual interest, of \u20ac60bn, could soon become its biggest budget outlay.<\/p>\n

The debt mountain represented a \u201cmortal danger\u201d for a country \u201con a cliff edge\u201d and \u201cstill addicted to public spending\u201d, Bayrou said, outlining steps he said would cut \u20ac43.8bn from the budget, reducing the deficit to 4.6% next year and 3% by 2029.<\/p>\n

Other measures would include an across-the-board freeze on government spending except for debt servicing and the defence sector, which President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> demanded should be increased by \u20ac3.5bn next year and more in 2027.<\/p>\n

The budget squeeze will also entail keeping pensions at their 2025 level, capping welfare spending and reducing healthcare expenditure by \u20ac5bn. Civil service and government agency salaries would be frozen and public sector job numbers cut.<\/p>\n

The move to scrap public holidays is likely to meet strong resistance, although France has previously discussed combining VE Day<\/a> with Armistice Day on 11 November, creating a single memorial day for the victims of the first and second world wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cCancelling two holidays is a direct attack on our history, our roots and on working France,\u201d said Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally (RN), the largest single party in parliament. \u201cNo RN MP will accept a measure that amounts to provocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other party leaders were equally damning. The proposed budget was \u201can organised hold-up\u201d, said Fabien Roussel of the French Communist party. Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon of the radical left LFI said it was \u201ctime to expel Bayrou\u201d and \u201cend this destruction, these injustices\u201d.<\/p>\n

A leading Socialist party MP, Boris Vallaud, condemned it as \u201ca brutal and unacceptable budget\u201d. He added: \u201cAsking always more from those who have little, and so little from those who have much, is neither serious, effective, nor just.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s decision to call a snap election last year delivered a hung parliament in which Bayrou does not have enough votes to pass a budget without the support of the left or the right, both of which oppose his proposals for different reasons.<\/p>\n

Without an agreement, the veteran prime minister is likely to face a no-confidence motion similar to the one that toppled his predecessor, Michel Barnier, as early as October, when his detailed budget bill is due to go before to parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis government prefers to turn on the French people, working people and retirees, rather than tackle waste,\u201d said Marine Le Pen, leader of the RN\u2019s parliamentary group. \u201cIf Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou does not correct his work, we will vote him down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s prime minister, Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-314013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114963795699419344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}