This is hardly the first time that France has faced significant public outcry. This chaos has only recently been triggered after Prime Minister François Bayrou’s announcement to remove public holidays. The plan, which aims to address the country’s ongoing fiscal challenges, suggests eliminating two of the country’s 11 public holidays: Easter Monday and May 8, which commemorates the end of World War II in Europe.
France, meanwhile, has a tremendous problem with its bloated public sector workforce. This provision covers 5.8 million of their government workers, including almost one-in-five public administration employees. As public spending accounts for 56.5% of the country’s GDP, the second-highest level in the European Union after Finland, Bayrou’s plan has garnered both criticism and concern among various political factions and citizens alike.
The fiscal situation in France is precarious. The country thus ran a shocking deficit of -5.8% of GDP, the worst in the euro area. Plus, it’s national debt ballooned to 113% of GDP, third-highest in the world behind Greece and Italy. This financial strain has prompted calls for urgent reforms, with several credit rating agencies recently downgrading France’s sovereign credit rating due to apprehensions regarding the government’s capacity to implement effective deficit-reduction measures.
That’s what President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to do since taking office in 2017, to relieve the tax burden and encourage the creation of jobs. Critics argue that Bayrou’s recent proposal lacks the structural reforms necessary to address the underlying issues plaguing France’s public sector. Édouard Philippe, Macron’s first prime minister, pointed out that Bayrou’s package fails to propose any substantial changes to ineffective public policies.
Bayrou’s plan chalks up much of this success to a much more controversial proposal that, in the case of every third retiring civil servant, no replacement be provided. This approach raises troubling doubts about the long-term impact on quality public services and taxpayer workforce morale.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, vehemently opposed Bayrou’s proposal, describing it as a “race towards an economic, financial and social abyss for the greater suffering of all.” Mélenchon’s remarks reflect a broader sentiment among critics who argue that reducing public holidays will not effectively resolve France’s fiscal crisis but will instead exacerbate social inequalities.
Public sector pay, pensions, welfare benefits and tax thresholds will be frozen until 2026. This is in addition to the cutbacks they’ve proposed for the upcoming holiday season. That stagnation will soon lead to a slow but steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans.
Despite these challenges, Bayrou insists that his proposal is an appropriate first step toward stabilizing France’s economy. Orman contends that the nation needs to address its fiscal challenges honestly before it falls into a deeper crisis.
The fight around public holidays is a symptom of the larger war on France’s vision of public service and fiscal conservatism. Pressure is starting to be felt from credit rating agencies and political opposition. The French government—which finds itself at a similar tipping point between the urge to fix chronic deficits and public anger—is walking a political tightrope.