France\u2019s government is weighing a controversial move \u2013 scrapping two public holidays \u2013 as part of a push to fill state coffers. Prime Minister Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou has given unions and employers until 30 September to discuss the measure, or risk the government pushing it through.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou first touted the idea during the announcement of his 2026 budget plan<\/a> on 15 July.<\/p>\n Bayrou said that France had to borrow each month to pay pensions and salaries of civil servants, a state of affairs he called “a curse with no way out”.<\/p>\n By cutting two public holidays \u2013 Easter Monday and 8 May, Victory in Europe Day \u2013 from a list of 11, France could save \u20ac4.2 billion next year, he added.<\/p>\n This corresponds to just under 10 percent of the \u20ac43.8bn in savings he wants to achieve in the 2026 budget.<\/p>\n So far, the government has proposed to make \u20ac21bn in savings for 2026 through reductions in state, local and social spending, with another \u20ac7bn expected from freezing social benefits and income tax brackets.<\/p>\n French PM unveils radical plan to tackle \u2018deadly danger\u2019 of national debt<\/a><\/p>\n September deadline<\/p>\n The measure to remove public holidays has sparked a clash between workers and bosses over work-life balance, wages and how to respond to the government\u2019s austerity drive.<\/p>\n Bayrou<\/a> has given unions and employers groups until 30 September to find a consensus. While he said he was open to other options on the choice of days, he stressed that he will not hesitate to act\u00a0if talks fail.<\/p>\n In a letter addressed to unions and employers groups last Friday, Bayrou said that companies would pay the state part of their earnings generated from these two days.\u00a0This figure has yet to be announced.<\/p>\n French PM turns to YouTube to sell budget cuts and calm public anger<\/a><\/p>\n Unions have reacted angrily, saying they won\u2019t negotiate on holidays just to boost company profits.<\/p>\n Denis Gravouil, a leaders of the CGT union<\/a>, told RFI that the government has given them no room for negotiation on this point.<\/p>\n “We do not want the abolition of public holidays which would only serve to increase the profits of certain companies and to make public employees work two more days,” he said.<\/p>\n Michel Picon, of the Union of Local Businesses (U2P<\/a>), said that smaller companies may be penalised by the measure.<\/p>\n “These two working days will not automatically bring businesses more profitability or more turnover,” he told Franceinfo, adding the measure risks “causing chaos in the country”.<\/p>\n Some sectors which are highly dependent on public holidays, such as tourism, could also be affected by lower activity linked to the cancellation.<\/p>\n The summer France got its first paid leave and learned to holiday<\/a><\/p>\n “Easter Monday is one of the days with the highest consumption rate in our country,” Cyril Chabanier, president of the CFTC union, told BFM-TV.<\/p>\n According to him, there would be “losses in terms of VAT” on these days, a tax that brought in more than \u20ac200bn for the state in 2024. “It will cause a lot of noise for very little revenue.”<\/p>\n Employers\u2019 groups are more open to the idea, with the Paris CPME saying they could even consider cutting up to three public holidays to boost productivity \u2013 “as long as the measure doesn’t create direct conflict between workers and managers,” its president\u00a0Bernard Cohen-Haddad told RFI.<\/p>\n Solidarity Day<\/p>\n This would not be the first time France has converted a public holiday into a revenue-generating measure.<\/p>\n Pentecost Monday, or Whit Monday,\u00a0now known as “Solidarity Day<\/a>“, was put in place after the deadly heatwave<\/a> in\u00a02003.<\/p>\n Employees work this one day a year without being paid and in return, companies pay 0.3 percent of their annual gross payroll to finance social security to benefit the elderly and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n Although it began as a fixed day, usually in June, from 2008 the government allowed companies more flexibility to choose another date on the calendar.<\/p>\n In 2025, the Solidarity Day contribution represents approximately \u20ac2.5bn, \u20ac2.1bn of that from the private sector.<\/p>\n Defence spending<\/p>\n After years of overspending, France is on notice to bring its public deficit back under control, as required under European Union rules.<\/p>\n Bayrou said the government aims to bring the deficit down to 4.6 percent next year, from an estimated 5.4 percent this year, and would reach the target of below 3 percent required by the EU by 2029.<\/p>\n