2w ago

French PM may scrap two public holidays to reduce country’s crippling debt

www.theguardian.com

France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at reducing the country’s ballooning deficit, boosting its economy and preventing it being “crushed” by debt.

Outlining the 2026 budget on Tuesday, Bayrou suggested Easter 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.

The centrist prime minister said: “The entire nation has to work more so that the activity of the country as a whole increases, and so that France’s situation improves. Everyone will have to contribute to the effort.”

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 €3.3tn of public debt – on which the annual interest, of €60bn, could soon become its biggest budget outlay.

61 comments

Or, just tax the rich.
- Right? Why is it always "make life harder for the working class" and never "make billionaires pay their fucking share"???
  
  France has "only" 40 billionaires and also has the second-highest marginal tax rate in the EU at 55.4%. I know billionaires are the favourite whipping boy of the left and of Lemmy, and I support taxing them in general, but it won't fix this problem.
He's not a fucking centrist...
Yeah, let's not touch one cent of the 221 billion € each year given to large corporations, and instead stop celebrating the victory against Nazism.
- Biggest public spending by far: gifts to private companies, going completely uncheck for decades, no one know what any of the 2000+ schemes are and why this money is given and for what and nothing is expected in return. But if we are missing 17 billions on healthcare budget, we are supposed to get screwed and shut up.
- the annual interest, of €60bn, could soon become its biggest budget outlay.
  public financial support for the corporate sector currently coats €100bn
  Not only not a centrist, he can't even do math.
Yes because all the recent evidence definitely doesn't suggest that productivity is increased with 4 day working weeks overall
Why? Because free time is good for people's mental and physical health. You know who's more productive than someone who doesn't have time or energy to improve their health? Someone who does!
Truly baffling stuff
- MoArE dAyS pAyDe MoArE mOnEyE
Yeah, that’ll go down well with the populace I’ll bet. Cue rioting and fires.
- Knowing what I know of French history, I would never be a politician in France.
Meanwhile, the rich and the corporations don't have to make any effort. There comes a time when they'll have to grab some bourgeois to set an example. The French have forgotten that the bourgeoisie, like dogs, must be trained, otherwise they'll do only shit
And God bless the French, they will burn Paris to the fucking ground for this. Meanwhile, in the U.S., congress just decimated what little public healthcare we have, and guys with Gadsden flag profile pics and handles like, "1776patriot," actively cheered them on.
American here... this plan implies that corporations are well taxed right. Cause if people work on a holiday, thier pay doesn't change I assume. That means only the increased output that leads to corporate income generates leading to improved tax revenue counts.
If the corporate tax rate is low like in the US, this would be like trying to fill the bathtub through a straw while the drain is open.
- No no no, you can't tax corporations silly. That would punish them for creating jobs and wealth, they will leave the country and take back their jobs and then where would we be? Better continually lower corp taxes and Unleash the Magic™️ that will somehow cause budgets to balance themselves and jobs to spring up in abundance.
  
  Is that how france does it too? I know that is the concept here in the states.
We did that in Denmark this year, cutting a holiday.
It turns out the whole thing was a calculator mistake, and also, the same faulty calculator was wrong about needing it in the first place.
OR, and hear me out on this one, you could TAX THE RICH.
Does this cheese eating surrender monkey want the French to riot? because this is how you get the French to riot.
They’ll have his head for this
I don't know about you guys but when we have a public holiday im normally out doing something. Spending money. So won't this just cancel out?
- Essentially, cancelling public holidays will in short term add some slave labourto the company, which in turn maybe add more profits, more b2b economical activity, and if France has any decent corporate tax and not too many loopholes, some money will go into budget to be allocated to usual overspending that got you into this place, and none to repay debts.
  Tldr: you're being screwed over, go protest, or ask for raises when this actually occurs.
let the heads roll
Easter Monday
France may not be very religious any more, but it looks like they do still have a lot of religious holidays:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_France
Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Assumption Day, All Saint's Day, Christmas Day, Saint Stephen's Day.
- Good Friday and Stephens are only for a very small portion of metropolitan France (former occupied territories that still have a few oddities like these)
- looks like they do still have a lot of religious holidays
  Wow. Working people get holidays. So?
I know someone from France with 36 vacation days 😅 36 !!!!
- Jealiousy brought you to the point of laughing about others having it better than you, and accepting your horrible state as the norm.
  Guess what? They have paid sick leave as well.
  I bet you lament about billionaires and big corporations all day, not realising that they make the rules where you live. Why would you laugh at a country that values their citizens at least a bit instead of doing everything for the profit of the richest?
  
  I would not jump into too many conclusions. My friend with 36 days of vacation said she’d prefer somewhat higher wage in France and would be happy with a few less days. To conclude I am jealous would mean you know me a bit. And you don’t. :)
- That's is just 10 days (two weeks) more than the mandatory minimum for new eyployees, it's above average, but it's what you get in most EU countries with some 10~20 years of work & a few kids.
  (The orange part is just the starting minimum.)
  
  What a shitty info graphics. Says Europe and then doesn't even touch anything past the Iron Curtain. What is this, 1989?
  Hungary has 11 public holidays. And the number of vacation days are mandated by age, starting with 20 days at age twenty and then gaining one additional day every two years, so at forty-five and above for a total of 30. Since this is not based on tenure, it doesn't matter whom you work for. Plus two more days for the first two kids, and an additional three for the third for a total of seven.
  This is on top of 15 covered sick days, which you can also take for taking care of sick dependents under the age of 12.
  
  Thanks for sharing
  
  In practice many people have 40h/w contracts and then get extra days off (35h/ w being the standard, you save 5h per week) which amounts to an extra 15 days I think over a year.
- Less than 2 month, not a lot. I have 31 by default and it's the lower end of the norm
  
  Yes that’s nice! I also have 31

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