Can the controversy proposed to eliminate two holidays to help France reduce its enormous public debt?

Several people resting on the Rivera del Río Seine — Photo foot, The French enjoy several long weekends a year.

- Author, Hugh Schofield
- Author's title, BBC News
56 minutes

The French Prime Minister François Bayrou has generated a great controversy by proposing the elimination of two of the national holidays in order to rescue the country's finances.

As expected, his proposal on Tuesday to suppress Easter Monday and the day of the victory of May 8 caused protests of both the populist wings of the left and the right, while his centrist co -religionists and the conservative right expressed, in the best case, a cautious support.

It was anticipated that in a country with such an entrenched tradition of workers' protests, the sudden elimination of two days of holiday was not going to be easy to sell.

Basically, the measure would force men and women to work two more days a year without salary increase. The logic is that the increase in productivity would help to get the country out of its deeper debt hole.

Every second that passes, France has 5,000 euros (US $ 5,800) more debt.

Today it amounts to 3.3 billion euros (US $ 3.83).

But the French are very attached to their holidays (holidays).

Every May is expected with joy, not only because spring feels, but also for the succession of long weekends.

If on May 1 (Labor Day) and May 8, which marks the end of World War II, they fall on Tuesday or Thursday, weekends become four free days, since Monday and Friday are automatically considered holidays.

To this we must add the ascent (always on Thursday), on Easter Monday and on Monday of Pentecost.

If the ecclesiastical calendar allows it, an early Easter can be combined with May 1 or 8 to offer not only a bridge, that is, a four -day weekend that covers a Monday or Friday, but an authentic viaduct of five or six days.

November is another month of holidays, with all the saints on 1 and the armistice on the 11th, which offer a respite to autumn melancholy. And in addition to that, there are the famous “RTT” days, which many get in exchange for more than 35 legal per week.

A lot of rest?

But before falling into humorous self -compliance on “those incredibly lazy French and their divine right to endless free time”, it is necessary to take into account a couple more considerations.

First, far from the popular image, the French really have less national holidays than the European average.

France has 11, like Germany, or that the United States.

Slovakia is the country with more holidays, with 15, and England, Wales and the Netherlands are the ones that have the least, with 8.

Ireland and Denmark have 10.

Bathers in a beach in France — Photo foot, The French tend to enjoy their breaks, but have high labor productivity.

Secondly, according to the National Statistics Office of the United Kingdom, French productivity per worker is 18% higher than that of the United Kingdom, so the presumption that the French work less.

Third, it is not the first time in recent years that France proposes to suppress national holidays. It has already happened before, and it has worked … more or less.

In 2003, the conservative government of President Jacques Chirac wanted to take radical measures after the deadly heat wave of that summer, which caused the death of 15,000 people.

So Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin decided to convert on Monday of Pentecost on solidarity. People would work instead of taking the day off, and the money earned by employers would be paid to the government to create an aid for the elderly and disabled.

There was a great protest and, a few years later, the change softened, so that now the day of solidarity is voluntary.

All this is very confusing and nobody really understands how it works, but on Monday of Pentecost it continues to generate 3,000 million euros (US $ 3.5 billion) each year in revenue.

Another precedent dates back to the 1950s, with Charles de Gaulle.

Just appointed president, in 1959 he suppressed the holiday of May 8, Victory Day in Europe, claiming that the country could not afford it. It was restored in 1981 by the socialist François Mitterrand.

General Charles de Gaulle receives the great necklace of the Legion of Honor by assuming the position of the first president of the Fifth French Republic. — Photo foot, The remembered President Charles de Gaulle assumed the position in 1959 and immediately suppressed a holiday.

5,000 euros of debt per second

The current Prime Minister Bayrou aims to eliminate two holidays in a bold attempt to reduce debt.

So when on Tuesday the legislators of the Ala de los Verdes accused Bayrou of trying to “erase from the collective memory the eradication of Nazism”, Minister Benjamin Haddad was very easy to replicate: “Actually, it was Gaulle who did it first, and I think I remember that he played an important role in the eradication of Nazism.”

None of this means that Bayrou has more possibilities that their proposals come true.

The prime minister is in an almost total impotence position, by directing a government without a majority in Parliament, which could fall at any time if the opposition groups so decide.

But, curiously, this same impotence has given Bayrou the freedom to say what he thinks.

If there are few possibilities that their budgetary proposals are approved by the Assembly – and the possibilities are practically null – then it is better to tell the French the harsh reality.

The economic situation is serious, he said.

In these circumstances, Bayrou believes that perhaps the way of living must be rethink. And to work.