France’s government is weighing a controversial move – scrapping two public holidays – as part of a push to fill state coffers. Prime Minister François Bayrou has given unions and employers until 30 September to discuss the measure, or risk the government pushing it through.
Prime Minister François Bayrou first touted the idea during the announcement of his 2026 budget plan on 15 July.
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".
By cutting two public holidays – Easter Monday and 8 May, Victory in Europe Day – from a list of 11, France could save €4.2 billion next year, he added.
This corresponds to just under 10 percent of the €43.8bn in savings he wants to achieve in the 2026 budget.
So far, the government has proposed to make €21bn in savings for 2026 through reductions in state, local and social spending, with another €7bn expected from freezing social benefits and income tax brackets.
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September deadline
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’s austerity drive.
Bayrou 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 if talks fail.
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. This figure has yet to be announced.
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Unions have reacted angrily, saying they won’t negotiate on holidays just to boost company profits.
Denis Gravouil, a leaders of the CGT union, told RFI that the government has given them no room for negotiation on this point.
"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.
Michel Picon, of the Union of Local Businesses (U2P), said that smaller companies may be penalised by the measure.
"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".
Some sectors which are highly dependent on public holidays, such as tourism, could also be affected by lower activity linked to the cancellation.
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"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.
According to him, there would be "losses in terms of VAT" on these days, a tax that brought in more than €200bn for the state in 2024. "It will cause a lot of noise for very little revenue."
Employers’ 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 – "as long as the measure doesn't create direct conflict between workers and managers," its president Bernard Cohen-Haddad told RFI.
Solidarity Day
This would not be the first time France has converted a public holiday into a revenue-generating measure.
Pentecost Monday, or Whit Monday, now known as "Solidarity Day", was put in place after the deadly heatwave in 2003.
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.
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.
In 2025, the Solidarity Day contribution represents approximately €2.5bn, €2.1bn of that from the private sector.
Defence spending
After years of overspending, France is on notice to bring its public deficit back under control, as required under European Union rules.
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.
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Meanwhile, France's debt currently stands at 114 percent of GDP, compared to the 60 percent allowed under EU rules – the third-largest in the bloc after Greece and Italy.
Despite government savings across the board, France's defence budget is expected to increase in the coming years. President Emmanuel Macron has said defence spending will rise from €50.5bn in 2025 by €3.5bn in 2026, and then by a further €3bn in 2027.
(with newswires)
