France may be divided on many issues and ready to demonstrate or strike for or against any number of them, but it appears that there is near-total unity on one issue: No abolishing holidays!
Over 84% of those polled by Oxada for the newspaper La Parisien said a resounding ‘Non!’ to the idea of dropping V-E Day (May 8) and Easter Sunday to help fill a gap in France’s budget, and 83% gave the same response to dropping only one.
Respondents were also asked which holiday they would prefer to see scrapped, if forced, and the August 15th holiday of Assumption came out top as the one people would least mind losing, which is not surprising, since it falls during a period when the majority of people are on vacation.
Of France’s 11 national public holidays, six are Christian festivals and five mark secular events.
The cuts were among measures being discussed by the government under Prime Minister François Bayrou, who is facing a vote of confidence in the next week.
Image: V-E Day in Paris
