“We must as a nation work more,” Bayrou said.
While Bayrou tried to frame the move as an act of collective sacrifice for the greater good, scrapping vacation days is likely to infuriate French voters who are deeply attached to what is a very generous social safety net in comparison with other Western democracies like the United States.
The most recent major change to France’s social welfare model, the law raising the retirement age in 2023, sparked massive protests and remains deeply unpopular.
Lawmakers won’t formally debate the proposals until after the summer break, but Bayrou’s plans already appear to be threatening the survival of his minority government, which requires the tacit support of at least one major player in the opposition — a role which the National Rally had played in recent weeks.
Prominent lawmakers from the Greens, the center-left Socialists and the hard-left France Unbowed have already come out against the 2026 budget. The National Rally last month said it would wait to decide on Bayrou’s fate until the budget after he unveiled his spending plans Tuesday, which it quickly criticized.
National Rally President Jordan Bardella called getting rid of the May 8 public holiday “a direct attack” on French history while the far-right party’s most prominent voice on budget issues, Jean-Philippe Tanguy, said Bayrou was effectively “giving us the finger.”