France's PM wants to scrap two public holidays to help fix public finances
15/07/2025
US-NATO deal: How will US arms reach Ukraine?
15/07/2025
'The moment of truth': French PM Bayrou lays out budget cuts
15/07/2025
What's at stake in Syria's Sweida clashes?
15/07/2025
Gaza truce still out of reach after Doha talks as deadly strikes continue
15/07/2025
French prisoner who escaped in inmate's bag recaptured
15/07/2025
In Iraq, drought threatens water supply and ancient heritage
15/07/2025
Syria declares ceasefire after deadly clashes in Sweida
15/07/2025
Mexico: Femicide filmed by a surveillance camera
Americas
15/07/2025
French PM Bayrou stakes political survival on budget squeeze
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France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
France in revolt over PM's proposition to abolish two public holidays as part of budget cuts
In a much-anticipated speech on Tuesday, French Prime Minister François Bayrou proposed a range of measures to tackle France's exploding deficit, saying that the country's debt is increasing by €5,000 every second. "It's late but there is still time," Bayrou said, warning that France was facing a "moment of truth". Bayrou's plan includes limiting tax breaks for the wealthy and slashing civil service jobs, but it was his plan to revoke two public holidays that garnered the most headlines. He suggested scrapping Easter Monday and May 8 – Victory Day in France, marking Nazi Germany's surrender in 1945 – but said he was open to suggestions. The announcement immediately provoked outrage from the French public – three out of four opposed the change in a poll published Wednesday – as well as politicians from across France's political spectrum. Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right Rassemblement National party, called the proposal a "direct attack on our history, our roots and French workers". Lionel Benharous, mayor of the town of Les Lilas – home to the Romainville fort, where thousands of Resistance fighters were detained during World War II – spoke out against the 'dangerous recklessness' of such a proposal in the current climate. 'At a time when racism and anti-Semitism are regaining a deeply alarming following, when our republican values are being undermined, and when the far right is in power or approaching power in so many countries, deciding that May 8 will no longer be a public holiday is not just an economic measure, but is exacerbating the threats to our democracy,' Benharous said in a Facebook post. Sophie Binet, leader of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) – one of France's oldest and largest trade unions – also spoke out out against removing national holiday status from May 8, saying it would be a "very serious" decision to stop marking "the day of victory over Nazism". Not always a public holiday But despite the heated reactions and attachment that many in France demonstrated in reaction to the proposals, some have pointed out that marking these dates has a complex history. "The commemoration of May 8 has not always been a public holiday," French historian Denis Peschanski pointed out in a Facebook post. He pointed out that commemorations celebrating the German surrender in 1945 and the end of hostilities was initially "supposed to take place on a Sunday, so either May 8, if it fell on a Sunday, or the following Sunday". It wasn't until 1953 that the government decided to make May 8 a public holiday to honour the Resistance movement, explained Peschanski. Six years later, General Charles de Gaulle decided to abolish the public holiday but kept it as a national day of commemoration. 'He chose instead to highlight June 18 (when de Gaulle urged the French to resist Nazi occupation) and the Resistance movement, even though he never made the day of the appeal a public holiday,' Peschanski said. One of his successors, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, went a step further in 1975 by scrapping the commemoration altogether in the name of European unity and Franco-German friendship – a move that sparked strong reactions from former Resistance fighters and deportees and the associations representing them. During his presidency, François Mitterrand decided to reinstate the day of commemoration and make it a public holiday once again. For Peschanski, there are other dates from the war that even more symbolic, notably the Allied landings at Normandy on D-Day a month later. "May 8, whether a public holiday or not, has never been a key date in the commemoration of World War II," he said. "The same cannot be said for June 6, 1944, which became an international commemoration under François Mitterrand in 1984, but has never been a public holiday." Few nations mark May 8 Peschanski's colleague Raphaël Spina, also a specialist in World War II, noted in a Facebook post that France is only one of three nations that officially commemorate May 8 nationwide. "Many countries do not mark May 8 as a public holiday, in particular the United Kingdom and the United States, who aren't accused of scorning the anti-Nazi struggle of which they were key players, or major victims," he wrote. May 8 is a public holiday in only two other European countries apart from France: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bulgarian Armed Forces Day is marked with military parades on May 6 and the Netherlands celebrates Liberation Day and the end of Nazi occupation on May 5. Luxembourg celebrates Europe Day on May 9 while in Slovenia, April 27 is the Day of Uprising Against Occupation. Spina also highlighted that while public holidays are supposed to be used for visiting the war memorial, there are hardly any people present at these sites on May 8, 'apart from schoolchildren taken there by their teachers'. "At this rate, what's the point of having a public holiday when a media event and an official ceremony would be just as useful for remembrance?" he asked. By the process of "elimination", Spina said, there are not many other holidays that France could abolish. "Nobody is going to propose abolishing the public holiday status of family celebrations such as Christmas, Easter [Sunday] or All Saints' Day, or religious holidays such as the Feast of Ascension and Assumption Day (commemorating the Virgin Mary's ascent into heaven)," he said. 'No religious significance' for Easter Monday Bayrou has justified his proposal to abolish Easter Monday as a public holiday by saying it has "no religious significance". Legally a public holiday since 1886, Easter Monday is not marked by any state-sanctioned religious celebration. Some see Easter Monday as a remnant of the Octave of Easter, in which a mass is repeated each of the eight days following Easter Sunday, one of the most important days for Christians. Easter Monday became a public holiday in France in 1886 and is now celebrated as such in 23 of the 27 EU countries. While some consider it a key part of Catholic tradition to mark Easter over more than just one Sunday, others agree with Bayrou. The Monday after Easter "has no religious significance today", says religious historian Odon Vallet. A distraction? As the debate rages about whether to abolish public holidays, some observers are calling it a political distraction. "Bayrou's proposal to abolish two public holidays is a red rag so that it's all we'll be talking about for days on end, without the French people realising all the other reductions announced today in health and public services," wrote Marine Tondelier, leader of France's Green Party, in a post on X. France has 11 public holidays, just shy of the European Union average of 11.7 national holidays a year (Lithuania has the most, with two independence days). Workers in EU countries benefit from between nine and 16 public holidays, according to the European labour authority EURES, excluding those that fall on a Sunday.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Israel bolsters border security after Syria attacks on Druze
Israeli soldiers in the occupied Golan Heights fired teargas to keep order along the heavily fortified frontier as dozens of people tried to cross over, said an AFP reporter in Majdal Shams, a mainly Druze town in the Israeli-annexed area. Large crowds of men, many of them in the traditional Druze attire of white caps and black tunics, gathered in front of the barbed wire, chanting and waving Druze flags, as Israeli soldiers looked on. "We just want to help our people. We want to help the parents, we want to help our families," said Faiz Shakir, from the Golan Heights. He said he was "very, very frustrated" after hearing of atrocities against the Druze in Syria. "There's nothing we can do. Our families are there... my wife is from there, my mother is from there, my uncles are there, my whole family is from there." The Israeli military said in a statement that "dozens of suspects" had tried to "infiltrate Israeli territory", with troops and border police "operating to prevent the infiltration and disperse the gathering". It added that "simultaneously, several Israeli civilians crossed the border fence into Syrian territory in the area of Majdal Shams" and troops were "operating to safely return" them. Tensions have surged after Syria's government deployed its security forces following unrest between members of the Druze religious minority and Bedouin fighters in the southern province of Sweida, which abuts the Golan Heights. Witnesses, Druze armed groups and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Syrian troops took part in fighting with the Bedouin against the Druze, which Israel has vowed to protect. The Observatory said that 27 Druze civilians had been killed sine Sunday in "summary executions... by members of the defence and interior ministries". Israel, home to 153,000 Druze citizens, has repeatedly stated its intention to defend the community in Syria, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces as far from their shared frontier as possible. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised and that Israel would not accept the presence of Damascus's Islamist-led government near its territory. 'Very serious' In the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967, more than 22,000 Druze hold permanent resident status, and maintain family ties inside Syria. Only around 1,600 have taken up the offer of Israeli citizenship. The remainder maintain their Syrian identity. The minority also accounts for about three percent of Syria's population and is heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida. On Wednesday, Netanyahu described the situation in Sweida as "very serious" and urged concerned Druze not to cross the border. "You are endangering your lives," he said. "You could be killed, you could be kidnapped, and you are harming the efforts of the (Israeli military)." The Israeli military, which announced the reinforcement of the border with more troops including some from Gaza, said earlier it had struck the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus. Defence Minister Israel Katz said that "the signals to Damascus are over -- now come the painful blows", sharing Syrian television footage of an explosion in Damascus on his X account. He promised that troops would "operate forcefully in Sweida to eliminate the forces that attacked the Druze until their full withdrawal".
Euronews
3 hours ago
- Euronews
Key coalition partner quits Israeli government over military draft
A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that it is quitting the government, leaving him with a minority in parliament. The Shas ultra-Orthodox party said it was leaving over disagreements surrounding a proposed law meant to grant wide military draft exemptions to its constituents. A second ultra-Orthodox party quit earlier this week over the same issue. Leading a minority government would make governing a challenge for Netanyahu. But Shas said it wouldn't work to undermine the coalition once it left and could vote with it on some laws. It also wouldn't support its collapse. The political turmoil comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a US-backed ceasefire proposal for Gaza. While the shakeup in Netanyahu's government won't necessarily derail the talks, the Israeli leader will be more susceptible to the demands of his far-right coalition partners, who oppose ending the 21-month war while Hamas remains intact. Our journalists are working on this story and will update it as soon as more information becomes available.
