The French “keep their balance between personal life and professional life”, underlines the survey institute.
François Bayrou in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, August 22, 2025. (AFP / Idriss Bigou-Gilles)
A very large majority of French people -84% against 16% – is opposed to the abolition of two holidays proposed by Prime Minister François Bayrou in his public finance recovery plan, according to an Odoxa survey published Sunday August 24 by the newspaper
The Parisian
.
The head of government had proposed, in mid-July, to suppress Easter Monday and May 8,
a measure intended to bring in 4.2 billion euros
Of the 44 billion savings he wishes to achieve in the 2026 budget.
Asked about the removal of only one of these two holidays, those questioned are almost as hostile, at 83%. There are also 80% to consider that this removal of public holidays is a “disguised tax”, when 66% “do not see the relationship between working more and the improvement of debt and deficits in France”.
“Violence and damage”
“The French do not want them. They are due to their balance between personal life and professional life and
This measure is experienced as violence and damage
“, estimates Gaël Sliman, the president of Odoxa, in the columns of
Parisian
.
François Bayrou will hold a press conference on Monday marking the start of a very perilous period for his government, threatened with censorship on his budgetary projects by the left and the national rally.
He must also face calls to block the country launched for September 10 and supported by the left.
Survey carried out by Odoxa for the Parisian, with a sample of 1,004 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, consisting according to the quota method, interviewed by Internet from August 20 to 21, 2025.