French PM drops predecessor's plan to cut public holidays

Francois de Beaupuy, Bloomberg News on Sep 13, 2025

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France’s new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu dropped an unpopular proposal by his predecessor to cut two public holidays, while warning that the government will need to find other ways to trim its budget deficit.

Lecornu, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to replace Francois Bayrou who was ousted earlier this week after losing a confidence vote in parliament, faces the daunting task of convincing a fragmented lower house to restore public finances.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit rating of France’s sovereign debt to A+ from AA- on Friday evening, a sign that the upheaval of repeated government collapse has locked the country into an enduring battle to contain a swelling debt burden.

“I hear what our citizens say: they want work to pay,” Lecornu said in an interview with La Depeche newspaper published on Saturday. “Dropping the suppression of holidays will require to find other sources of funding.”

Bayrou had proposed 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of spending cuts and tax hikes that would narrow France’s 2026 deficit to 4.6% of economic output from an expected 5.4% this year. As part of the plan, he floated a proposal to cut two public holidays as a way to boost the competitiveness of Europe’s second-largest economy.

The country must keep reducing its public deficit, Lecornu told the newspaper. Both those who claim that the International Monetary Fund is “at the doors” of France’s Finance Ministry, and those who claim that the situation can be left as such are lying, he said.

The new premier said he’ll consult with labor union representatives. He called for talks in parliament with lawmakers of opposition parties such the Socialists, the Communists, and the Greens. This will be “difficult but necessary to give the country” a budget, he said.

So far, lawmakers have shown little willingness for compromise. Many are calling for a repeat of the snap legislative elections in 2024 that split parliament into three opposing blocs incapable of agreeing on financial bills. Some, including the far right and the far left, are calling for Macron to resign before the end of his term in 2027 — something he has categorically ruled out.

To break the deadlock, caretaker Finance Minister Eric Lombard said the 44 billion euro “effort” proposed by his former boss Bayrou must be “reduced” in a manner that will be determined by the new premier.

The wealthiest must contribute more to the budget consolidation than the rest of the population through taxation on savings and some assets, while sparing them from new levies on their business wealth, Lombard said Saturday on France 2 television’s evening news program.