Overview

• Bayrou’s office formally informed labour unions on August 8 that it will remove the public-holiday status of two national holidays to yield over €4 billion in savings by next year.
• The prime minister has set a September 1 deadline for unions and employer groups to begin negotiations or face unilateral implementation of the holiday cuts.
• He has also reopened talks on unemployment-insurance reform with a target of €2 to €2.5 billion in annual savings starting in 2026.
• Major trade-union confederations have denounced the measures and signalled mobilisation, including calls for network-led blockades scheduled for September 10.
• While deputies in Alsace-Moselle secured verbal assurances that their two regional holidays will be spared, the question of formal exemptions remains unresolved and fuels regional tensions.