Tackling Debt 'Curse', France Wants To Slash Holidays
Presenting his outline 2026 budget plan, Bayrou said two holidays out of France's total of 11 could go, suggesting Easter Monday as well as and May 8, a day that commemorates the end of World War II in Europe.
After years of overspending, France is on notice to bring its public deficit back under control, and cut its sprawling debt, as required under EU rules.
Bayrou said France had to borrow each month to pay pensions or the salaries of civil servants, a state of affairs he called "a curse with no way out".
Bayrou had said previously that France's budgetary position needed to be improved by 40 billion euros ($46.5 billion) next year.
But this figure has now risen after President Emmanuel Macron said at the weekend he hoped for additional military spending of 3.5 billion euros next year to help France cope with international tensions.
France has a defence budget of 50.5 billion euros for 2025.
Bayrou said the budget deficit would be cut to 4.6 percent next year, from an estimated 5.4 percent this year, and would fall below the three percent required by EU rules by 2029.
To achieve this, other measures would include a freeze on spending increases across the board -- including on pensions and health spending -- except for debt servicing and the defence sector, Bayrou said.
"We have become addicted to public spending," Bayrou said, adding that "we are at a critical juncture in our history".
The prime minister even held up Greece as a cautionary tale, an EU member whose spiralling debt and deficits pushed it to the brink of dropping out of the eurozone in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
"We must never forget the story of Greece," he said.
France's debt currently stands at 114 percent of GDP -- compared to 60 percent allowed under EU rules -- the biggest debt mountain in the EU after Greece and Italy.
The government hopes to cut the number of civil servants by 3,000 next year, and close down "unproductive agencies working on behalf of the state", the premier said.
Bayrou said that wealthy residents would be made contribute to the financial effort.
"The nation's effort must be equitable," Bayrou said. "We will ask little of those who have little, and more of those who have more."
Losing two public holidays, meanwhile, would add "several billions of euros" to the state's coffers, Bayrou said.
But the proposed measure sparked an immediate response from Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right National Rally.
He said abolishing two holidays, "especially ones as filled with meaning as Easter Monday and May 8 is a direct attack on our history, our roots and on labour in France".
Leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon of the France Unbowed party meanwhile called for Bayrou's resignation, saying "these injustices cannot be tolerated any longer".
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Int'l Business Times
5 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
EU Sets Stage For Big Battle Over Long-term Budget
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DW
10 hours ago
- DW
Ukraine updates: Trump says Kyiv 'shouldn't' target Moscow – DW – 07/16/2025
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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Trump has grown tired with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin-ordered invasion of Ukraine continues. During his reelection campaign in 2024, Trump ran on the promise to end the war in Ukraine. Trump announced on Monday that the US will send Patriot missiles to Ukraine to defend itself, with the weapons being paid for by the European Union. The US president on Monday vowed 'very very severe' tariffs against Russia if a Ukraine truce deal is not achieved within 50 days. US President Donald Trump has threatened Vladimir Putin's Russia with tariffs unless it agrees to a peace deal with Ukraine. This has led many to wonder if this sudden turnaround signals the end of the so-called "bromance" between the two leaders. Analyst Boris Vormann tells us that it looks like a major shift, even though Donald Trump has never articulated a foreign policy vision. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has delivered a eulogy to his country and its people to mark Ukraine's Day of Statehood as it continues to face the full-scale Russian invasion launched in 2022. Zelenskyy spoke of the bond between the many generations that had lived in the country. "This day is about connection," he said. "About every stage of our statehood and about the bond that unites dozens of generations: those who lived in this land a thousand years ago and those who live here today." "A bridge through time, standing on three unshakable pillars: Ukrainians were here, Ukrainians are here, Ukrainians will be here," he added. He went on to say that Ukrainians were motivated to keep going not by praise from the country's allies about how brave and resilient they are but by the desire for self-preservation. 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The ministry said Ukraine had lost "up to 125 troops" during the offensive to "liberate" Petrovka. In Voskresenka, up to 185 Ukrainian troops were lost, the ministry said. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified. More now on the Ukrainian drone attacks overnight, which Russian authorities say left 18 people injured. Russia says it shot down 55 Ukrainian drones over five regions in the country's south and southwestern regions. The falling debris damaged homes and commercial buildings in Voronezh, where 16 people were injured. "Sixteen people, including a teenager, were hurt as a result of the attack," Voronezh regional Governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram. Gusev said most of the injuries were minor, involving cuts and shrapnel wounds. "But there are also injuries of a different nature and serious cases," he added. "One man is in a coma, another has a lung injury." Unverified video shared by a Telegram channel with ties to Russia's security services showed an airborne object smashing into a building on a residential street in Voronezh, the regional capital city. The crash ignited a large fireball. Voronezh's mayor Sergei Petrin said a kindergarten was damaged. In the neighboring region of Lipetsk, a drone crashed into an industrial area of the city of Yelets, leaving one person injured, Lipetsk governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram. In Bryansk, a region which borders Ukraine and Belarus, one woman was injured in a drone attack on Sluchevsk village, according to Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz. Russia has said it needs time to respond to US President Donald Trump's 50-day deadline to end the war in Ukraine or face more sanctions. During the remarks on Monday, Trump also unveiled plans to provide Kyiv with more weapons and impose "very severe" tariffs on Russia's trading partners. Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump's statement is "very serious." "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Trump's sanctions and tariffs threat marks a significant shift in approach towards Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as the White House has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin and the Kremlin over the lack of progress in peace talks. Peskov insisted that Russia, which has rejected previous US ceasefire proposals, is willing to negotiate. Russia is "waiting for proposals from the Ukrainian side on the timing of the third round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations," Peskov said. Russia and Ukraine have held two rounds of direct talks in recent months, but those meetings in Turkey have failed to yield a peace deal. Ukraine has accused Russia of making unrealistic demands, including abandoning its ambitions to join NATO and agreeing to giving up territory in eastern Ukraine that has been occupied by Russian forces for years. The Kremlin spokesman also said Trump's remarks on Monday would likely encourage Kyiv and hinder attempts to bring about a ceasefire. "It seems that such a decision made in Washington and in NATO countries and directly in Brussels will be perceived by Kyiv not as a signal for peace but for the continuation of the war," he said. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has also welcomed Donald Trump's announcement that the US will provide NATO countries with weapons for Ukraine. "We need to ramp up pressure on Russia," Veldkamp said. That's the "only way forward," he said, although he did say that Trump's 50-day deadline is "rather long." Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Veldkamp said, "We will look into what we can do also in relation to Mr. Trump's announcements and take it from there," adding that "we're looking into that with a positive inclination." Veldkamp pointed out that the Netherlands has already provided significant military support to Kyiv. He highlighted Patriot missile systems, missile batteries, F-16 fighter planes, portable missiles known as MANPADS, as well as drone cooperation. Asked by DW's Finlay Duncan, reporting from Brussels, about whether it appears that the Trump administration's views are aligning closer with those of Europe, Veldkamp said he is "very glad there's convergence" between Washington and Brussels. He said he "appreciates" that the US seems to finally understand that "Putin is dragging his feet" when it comes to earnestly working towards a ceasefire. Veldkamp also said he was pleased to see the bipartisan support in the US for a sanctions package that has the support of 87 out of 100 senators. "It's very important that the US is on the move and that we're on the move together as EU," he said, adding that he hopes the bloc will approve the 18th sanctions package "sooner rather than later." Latvian deputy Foreign Minister Artjoms Ursulskis has said Riga is confident any remaining issues blocking the approval of an 18th round of sanctions on Russia will be dealt with. Ursulskis, is attending the Brussels meeting instead of Foreign Minister Baiba Braze, who is visiting the US this week. Slovakia has reportedly been holding up the passage of the European Commission's June proposal amid concerns over sanctions on Russian oil. But Ursulskis said ministers would "iron out" those "small details on economic impacts." He also said the focus on the next round of sanctions should be Russia's so-called shadow fleet. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Moscow has used a number of opaquely owned and often non-insured ships to sell its oil while circumventing Western sanctions imposed in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. "It's not just about sanctioning ships, but companies helping to circumvent sanctions," Ursulskis said, which help "bring in a lot of money for the Russian economy." He said the 18th package of sanctions, once approved, would be "much bigger in its direct impact." "If we shrink Russia's economy, it will be less able to finance war," Ursulskis said. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has welcomed Donald Trump's shifting stance towards Russia, saying "there is still a dance for two with the US." On Monday, Trump announced he would be imposing tariffs and sanctions on Russia and its trading partners unless a ceasefire in Ukraine is reached within 50 days. Budrys said the EU needs "to sync with the Americans and their timeline," calling Trump's deadline a "signal for Europe to prepare itself" in case the sanctions and tariffs do take effect. He pointed out that there are still EU member states that rely on oil from Russia. While the ministers are hoping to agree on a proposed 18th round of sanctions against Russia's energy and financial sectors, Budrys said the bloc should already "start preparing a 19th package." Despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to change his approach to the war, Budrys insisted that the sanctions "are effective." "Putin has to react when sanctions packages come along," the Lithuanian minister said, adding that "they have secondary effects" and are a factor "Putin listens to."
DW
12 hours ago
- DW
EU backs Trump Ukraine U-Turn but wants US to 'share burden' – DW – 07/15/2025
The European bloc welcomed a shift in US rhetoric on Ukraine but pressed Washington to chip in. The EU, however, failed to agree on a new round of sanctions on Russia. The European Union's foreign affairs chief may be having something of an "I told you so" moment as US President Donald Trump reverses his past praise of Vladimir Putin and vows to ramp up pressure on Moscow. "We see from the United States that they have also realized that Russia does not really want peace," Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday. The former Estonian prime minister made a name for herself as one of Ukraine's staunchest political backers, and warned at this week's EU talks that Russia's bombing campaign had "reached record levels." Kallas and many of her EU counterparts welcomed Washington's shift in rhetoric as they filed into a meeting. "What we experienced yesterday with the new messages from Trump was very, very important," Denmark's Lars Lokke Rasmussen said. But some of the EU's top brass also had notes for the US on its latest announcements, including Washington's threat to slap 100% secondary tariffs on Russia and countries that trade with it unless a peace deal with Ukraine is reached by early September. "The 50 days that Mr. Trump has announced is rather long," Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said on the sidelines of Tuesday's talks. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Trump also made headlines Monday with an announcement that he'd be greenlighting sales of Patriot air defense systems and other arms to European countries to send on to Ukraine, just two weeks after Washington paused some arms shipments to Kyiv. The new plan should speed up and expand deliveries of US arms which Ukraine says it needs as it faces increased Russian aerial attacks. Some European countries have already been buying and sending US-made weapons to Kyiv, though the latest scheme could offer more certainty on the permissions needed to swiftly transfer the arms. A US commitment to sell replacements for American-made weapons sent to Ukraine could also encourage European states to ship more of their own military supplies. NATO chief Mark Rutte said the deal would "work through NATO systems" and that European countries including Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands were all interested in taking part. But the US is yet to disclose more details of its new scheme and DW understands the technicalities of exactly how it will work are still being discussed. Trump was, however, quick to cast the new deal as a lucrative business opportunity for the US, stressing Europe would foot the bill. And that seems to be raising some eyebrows among his counterparts across the Atlantic. The EU's Kallas told reporters after Tuesday's meeting that she would like to see Europe and the US "share the burden" of arming Ukraine. "If we pay for these weapons, it's our support — so it's European support — and we are doing as much as we can to help Ukraine. And therefore the call is that everybody would do the same," she said. "If you promise to give the weapons then say that somebody else is going to pay for it, it's not really given by you, is it?" Kallas added. Denmark's Rasmussen made a similarly veiled allusion. "We are providing a lot of funding for Ukraine to buy whatever weapons and ammunition they need … But I mean, I would very much like to see all our partners actually also contributing if we want this war to stop," he said. While the US ranks as Ukraine's single largest donor since its full-scale invasion by Russia, the European Union as a whole has spent roughly the same amount as Washington over the same period, according to data from the Kiel Institute cited by Radio Free Europe. The EU outspends the US when the cost of hosting and assisting Ukrainian refugees is factored in. EU states may be breathing a sigh of relief after the US policy shift, but policy analyst Torrey Taussig says it's too soon to judge whether Trump's stance has changed for good. "There has been a seesaw approach to this relationship throughout the last several months of this administration, and I wouldn't be surprised if this relationship, the US-Ukrainian relationship, still has more turns that it can take," the former US government official turned Atlantic Council fellow told DW. "I'm very reluctant to call this a strategic shift in the US-Ukrainian relationship," she added, though added that the two sides' ties now seem far more "positive." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video With European countries racing to boost their own defenses amid pressure from the US and a broader rethink of the EU's geopolitical fragility, governments have been debating how much of a planned military spending splurge should go to US weapons. Arms purchases, especially those involving large weapons systems, tend to lock the buyer into a years-long relationship with the seller, from production to delivery to future repairs. Experts say ending Europe's dependency on the American-made weapons, logistics and intelligence capacities it lacks could take at least a decade — and with US foreign policy proving unpredictable, that leaves some worried. EU heavyweight France has pushed for more European-only purchases, frustrating some other states which argued this only serves to slow down the process of getting weapons into European and Ukrainian hands. The latest US-led plan may be seen by some as a blow to France's efforts, with the potential for more European money to flow toward US arms manufacturers. As Europe nudges the US to do more to support Ukraine and punish Russia, the bloc's own efforts are faltering. Kallas said she was "really sad" that ministers failed to adopt an 18th round of EU sanctions on Moscow on Tuesday due to a holdout by Slovakia. The landlocked central European state has been protesting planned EU laws to ban all sales of Russian gas, and Prime Minister Roberto Fico said in an online post on Tuesday that Slovakia had asked the EU to postpone the vote on sanctions while his government mulled its response to an exchange with the EU's executive aimed at ending the stalemate. Kallas said she was "optimistic" an agreement could be struck among EU states in the coming days.
