Overview

• The €43.8 billion austerity package is under government and legislative review, with ministers open to amendments before autumn parliamentary debates.
• The proposed measures would eliminate Easter Monday and May 8 as national holidays while allowing Alsace-Moselle to retain 11 days under historical exemptions.
• State staffing cuts include scrapping 3,000 civil-service posts in 2026 and not replacing one in three retirements from 2027.
• Tourism bodies warn that dropping two holidays could cost their sector €200–400 million per day and concentrate visitor demand on fewer long weekends.
• Historian and union critics argue that removing May 8 undermines national memory and workers’ social rights.