France slashes holidays to tackle debt curse.

France’s Prime Minister Proposes Cutting Public Holidays to Tackle the Debt

Paris – France’s Prime Minister Francois Bayrou announced an urgent plan to reduce the number of public holidays as part of a broader strategy to address the nation’s debt crisis.

Key Proposals

• Bayrou suggested eliminating two holidays out of France’s total of 11, specifically Easter Monday and May 8, the day commemorating the end of World War II.
• The prime minister stated that France had to borrow each month to pay pensions or the salaries of civil servants, describing the situation as a “curse with no way out.”
• Bayrou previously called for improving France’s budgetary position by €40 billion next year; however, the figure rose after President Emmanuel Macron requested an additional €3.5 billion in defense spending.
• France’s defense budget for 2025 stands at €50.5 billion.
• The budget deficit would be cut to 4.6 % next year from an estimated 5.4 % this year and would fall below the three percent required by EU rules by 2029.
• Other measures include a freeze on spending increases across the board, except for debt servicing and the defense sector.

Historical Context

Bayrou held up Greece as a cautionary tale, an EU member whose spiraling debt and deficits pushed it to the brink of dropping out of the eurozone after the 2008 financial crisis. France’s debt currently stands at 114 % of GDP, with Greece and Italy as the biggest debt mountain in the EU.

Additional Measures

• The government hopes to cut the number of civil servants by 3,000 next year and close down “unproductive agencies working on behalf of the state.”
• Bayrou emphasized equitable contributions, stating that “the nation’s effort must be equitable. We will ask little of those who have little, and more of those who have more.”
• Eliminating two public holidays would add “several billions of euros” to the state’s coffers.

Political Response

Far‑right National Rally leader Jordan Bardella condemned abolishing two holidays as a direct attack on France’s history, roots, and labor. Leftist firebrand Jean‑Luc Melenchon of the France Unbowed party called for Bayrou’s resignation, arguing “these injustices cannot be tolerated any longer.”