François Bayrou wants to ask the companies to pay a contribution to the State, in exchange for the additional activity of which they will benefit if Easter Monday and May 8 become working days. But the gain reported by this reform is debated.
At a very regular intervals, François Bayrou swaps his Prime Minister’s costume for that of the whistleblower: in his eyes, the French do not work and do not produce enough compared to their European neighbors, the Germans for example. A delay that he intends to correct as soon as he presents the first budget on which he really had his hand, he who arrived in Matignon in December, after the censorship of Michel Barnier.
For this, the head of government intends to rely on an idea “Very controversial, which made a lot of comments”according to his own observation: the planned abolition of two holidays, in 2026. The Prime Minister invited the social partners to negotiate certain parameters of this measure, in a letter sent on Friday August 8 and which Franceinfo was able to consult on Sunday, confirming information from Echos.
The Battle of Béarnais is not only Ideological: in a context of very degraded public finances, making the French work two more days per year would allow to aim “4.2 billion euros from 2026 for the state budget”, According to the estimate he confirmed in his mail. This corresponds to a little less than 10% of the 43.8 billion savings that he wants to achieve within the framework of the 2026 budget.
Concretely, how “yield” Would he be obtained? First of all, “Mensualized employees and public officials will not be remunerated more for these new hours of work, which will not be deducted as overtime”according to his initial project. In other words, employees will be paid normally. This would therefore be different from the day of solidarity, frequently set in companies on Monday in Pentecost and for which the working people are not remunerated.
It was at this point that the state intervenes. “In return for this additional activity from which they will benefit from, companies will pay a contribution, which will feed the rectification effort of our public accounts”explains François Bayrou to defend his measure, which some of his relatives see as a political lure. On paper, the efforts made by public and private employees would not really enlist companies, which should donate money to the state.
For the time being, the government has not specified the exact amount of this contribution. By way of comparison, for the day of solidarity, companies must pay 0.3% of their annual gross payroll to the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA). In 2025, the contribution of companies thus represented around 2.5 billion euros, according to the CNSA (PDF), including 2.1 billion from the private sector alone. Knowing that the government aims for the same yield for each public holiday which would be worked in 2026, there is therefore little doubts that the contribution requested is similar, therefore at 0.3%. The public sector, however, will not pay a contribution, because public agents are already paid normally when they work a public holiday and the resources of public administrations are already integrated into state finances.
Firmly opposed to this measure, the unions are advancing their own calculations to denounce a sleight of hand that could ultimately benefit businesses. “Two days [de travail en plus]it is 1% of the payroll, or 8 billion euros. The government intends to contribute employees to the tune of 8 billion euros and will ask the employers to reimburse 4 billion [4,2 milliards précisément]“pointed out on Sunday evening François Manril, president of the CFE-CGC, on Franceinfo. “In this case, employers earn as much as the State, and it is employees who pay everything. We will lower the purchasing power of employees, we will lead them to work more and there will be no economic gain for France in the long term.”
False, responds to the government, which hopes to treat its public finances as much as promote growth. “Two days out of 365, it is about 0.5% more activity”estimated Amélie de Montchalin, the Minister of Public Accounts, in the National Assembly, mid-July.
So, who says true on the “value” of these two holidays, now unemployed, if they were worked? The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) has attempted to provide elements of response to the influence of working days on activity. In 2024, there was a 0.10 point increase in GDP, “The bulk of the effect” coming “Of two Mondays more than 2024 compared to 2023”write his analysts in a note in October 2023 (Lien PDF). Each working day has therefore reported 0.05 more GDP point in 2024, or nearly 1.5 billion euros in terms of growth.
The fact remains that some voices are raised to criticize the economic angles of the reform. In the eyes of Michel Picon, of the Union of local companies (U2P), the limited increase in activity on Easter Monday and May 8 will not be able to allow all companies to donate the contribution to the State without being penalized. “These two working days will not automatically bring companies more profitability, more turnover”he said on Franceinfo on Sunday, saying that this measure was likely to “Put the mess in the country”. Certain sectors very dependent on public holidays, such as tourism, would also be affected by a lower activity linked to this abolition.
And on the side of public accounts, the reform would also have its negative effects. “Easter Monday is one of the days when there is the largest consumption rate in our country”thus considered Cyril Chabanier, president of the CFTC, on BFMTV, mid-July. According to him, there would be “Losses in terms of VAT” On these days, a tax that brought back to the State more than 200 billion euros in the year 2024. “It will make a lot of social noise for a very low return of money.”
Will unions try to dissuade the government from implementing this reform in the next budget? The prospect of seeing the social partners having official discussions in September is today very weak, assured François evening Manril, of the CFE-CGC on Sunday evening, evoking a “Absolute scam”.
“There is no question of going to negotiate the ways and the means by which we are going to be robbed.”
François Manril, President of the CFE-CGCon franceinfo
Whatever happens, “Margins of maneuver” mentioned by François Bayrou are relatively low. “The choice of the two holidays identified can be discussed, as soon as the measurement of the measure is preserved”warned the Prime Minister. In fact, The executive will not let the social partners negotiate on the number of holidays abolishednor on the amount of business contribution.
On the other hand, they will be able to find grounds on the issue of employees and agents who were already working on these days, or on respect for regional specificities. For his part, the Prime Minister’s entourage told Franceinfo on Monday that he was not planned to touch the two additional holidays currently granted to Alsace and the Moselle. “This specificity must be taken into account in the negotiation”we add to Matignon, a few weeks before a social return which promises to be very tense.
