French budget crisis: PM Bayrou floats abolishing two national holidays as part of spending cuts

French PM François Bayrou unveiled deep spending cuts Tuesday in an effort to rein in France's burgeoning deficit, with proposals including scrapping two public holidays, limiting tax breaks for the wealthy and slashing civil service jobs. Facing the threat of another no-confidence vote, the survival of his government may hinge on how the cuts are received.

Bayrou detailed his effort to slash €43.8 billion from France's budget in a highly anticipated speech on Tuesday, warning that excessive debt is a “mortal danger” for the country and that France is now facing a “moment of truth” regarding its financial situation. 

"It's the last stop before the cliff, before we are crushed by the debt," Bayrou said in a speech to MPs, cabinet members and journalists.

The prime minister added that debt is increasing by €5,000 every second.

"It's late but there is still time," Bayrou said, adding that France was addicted to public spending and had to change.

He said the French must not forget the experience of Greece, which went through a full-blown debt crisis over a decade ago and needed multiple international bailouts and years of tough austerity policies to get back on its feet.

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20250715-french-pm-unveils-budget-expected-to-slash-govt-spending-by-%E2%82%AC40-billion

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

Nothing beats a good Franco-British operation to weaken France.

 

On March 27, 2025, a meeting of the "Volunteers" was held in Paris, at the initiative of France and the United Kingdom, in the presence of Zelensky. The meeting was intended to form a military support force for Ukraine in the conflict between NATO and Russia.

On May 10, the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, joined Macron and Starmer to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv after a memorable train journey.

This week, from July 8 to 10, Macron and Starmer met in London and finally decided to increase the size of the "Franco-British Joint Force" fivefold to 50,000 troops, elevate it to the status of an army corps, and make it the pillar of the "Coalition of the Volunteers." This force could be mobilized at NATO's disposal in a "major engagement" after being deployed to Ukraine to secure it following a possible ceasefire.

Basically, a Korean-style scenario, but worse, which would allow NATO to gain a foothold in Ukraine and rearm it while awaiting the resumption of the offensive against Russia, but this time by involving French military personnel on the ground.

And to be complete, they agreed on the possibility of coordinating the two countries' nuclear forces to counter any threat to their vital interests.

Macron and his advisors either have no international historical knowledge, or they are willing extras in a play whose epilogue is pre-planned: all Franco-British military campaigns, since the first 170 years ago, have had disastrous consequences for France, and only the United Kingdom has benefited from them when they have.

So, for all practical purposes, here is a summary for our President and his advisors, but especially for those about to relive them:

The Franco-British victory in the Crimean War (1853-1856) had the aftermath of Russia giving Prussia a free hand in 1870, the debacle at Sedan, the fall of the Second Empire, and the loss of Alsace and Moselle to France;
The Sack of the Summer Palace in 1860 by Franco-British troops during the Second Opium War left, even today, in the Chinese perception, an image of France as brutal and colonialist, contrasting with its reputation as a civilized nation at the origin of the Enlightenment; The Franco-British offensive in the Dardanelles in 1915 against the Ottoman Empire resulted in a heavy defeat that discredited the French army and diverted resources from the Western Front against Germany; - The Munich Agreement in 1939, instead of avoiding war, pushed the USSR to enter into a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, allowing the latter to achieve its objectives in the East and then invade half of France anyway;
The Suez Canal Crisis in 1956 highlighted the end of France's strategic influence, which could no longer intervene in the Middle East without the approval of the United States and the Soviet Union; The Franco-British operation in Libya in 2011 resulted in France losing its influence in Africa, as it was unable to cope with the explosion of terrorism in the Sahel and the mass immigration that followed the collapse of the Libyan state.

Today, France is engaged in a military alliance with Great Britain that combines the ingredients of all these catastrophic projects:

Opposing Russia in favor of Anglo-American interests, as during the Crimean War;
Engaging in a neocolonial enterprise in the eyes of the countries of the multipolar axis in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and part of Europe, as during the Opium Wars and the aggression against Libya; - Imposing additional debt on the French population in an already inextricable economic and social situation, or short-term failure due to a lack of preparation and underestimation of the adversary if a conflict with Russia were to occur today, as in 1915 at the Dardanelles.
Risk a disavowal from China, Russia, and the United States, which have no interest in controlling trade routes with Europe through a Franco-British hub, like the USSR and the United States in 1956 for control of the Suez Canal.

It's true, there isn't much hope that Macron and Starmer will back down.

Macron wants to exploit the "window of opportunity" of American disengagement in Ukraine and even in Europe to seek leadership on the continent. He wants to take Europe out of the Middle Ages and usher it into the Renaissance.

Starmer has every interest in finding an ally in the European Union after Brexit.

Global financiers are rubbing their hands: debt, weapons, recycling unproductive investments through war.

This is without taking into account the unpredictability of the American president and the short-term nature of this country's electoral deadlines, without taking into account the rise of countries joining China and Russia in building another world.

And if Macron, Starmer, Trump, Merz... didn't play the game, what would their future be? No, the dice are cast, the roles have been assigned. Macron can now only ignore the warnings of the history of disastrous Franco-British alliances.

What then is the weight of the European people? A motion to impeach Ursula von der Leyen, recently widely rejected by the European Parliament, gives an idea.

The French people, for their part, are on the front line. If he, too, ignores history, he might disappear without having avoided being emptied of body and soul, like the civilizations that have been unable to reject tyranny.

Jean PEGOURET
International Network, July 12, 2025

 

Note: This text is a draft of a more detailed analysis of the Franco-British operations discussed here and their consequences for France.

https://www.legrandsoir.info/rien-ne-vaut-une-bonne-operation-franco-britannique-pour-affaiblir-la-france.html

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

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