France's PM wants to scrap two public holidays to help fix public finances

France saw its budget deficit hit 5.8% of gross domestic product last year, nearly double the official EU limit of 3% of GDP, as a political crisis left four successive governments paralyzed and incapable of tackling an unexpected drop in tax income and surge in spending for a second year. Bayrou, a veteran centrist politician, must persuade the opposition ranks in France's fractured parliament to at least tolerate his cuts, or risk facing a no-confidence motion like the one that toppled his predecessor in December over the 2025 budget. President Emmanuel Macron has left Bayrou the task of repairing the public finances with the 2026 budget, after his own move to call a snap legislative election last year delivered a hung parliament too divided to tackle the country's spiraling spending.