In France, they proposed to abandon the celebration of Victory Day for the sake of economy

France should cancel the celebrations of Victory Day and Easter Monday to reduce the state budget deficit. This was announced on Tuesday, July 15, by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.

"I propose to cancel two public holidays: for example, Easter Monday and Victory Day on May 8. Their cancellation will bring billions of euros to the treasury," Bayrou said during a speech broadcast on France's official account on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

He also announced plans to increase the tax burden on the wealthiest segments of the population from 2026. According to the prime minister, the new "solidarity contribution" will affect only high incomes and will help reduce the budget deficit. At the same time, the amount of pensions and social benefits will not change in 2026 and will not be indexed to inflation.

"The cancellation of two public holidays, the refusal to replace every third civil servant, the exclusion of medicines from the list, attacks on unemployment insurance, sick leave, privatization. We will never allow people to pay for gifts to the richest, exposing the country to recession. We will censor this policy of misfortune," Mathilde Pano, chairman of the left—wing opposition party Insubordinate France, responded to Bayrou's proposal.

In addition, the head of the parliamentary faction of the National Unification Party, Marine Le Pen, threatened Bayre with a vote of no confidence if he did not make changes to the plan presented by him to reduce government spending.

"After seven years of catastrophic management inefficiency, [the country's president] Emmanuel Macron and Francois Bayrou are unable to achieve real savings and are presenting the French with another bill: almost €20 billion in taxes and reduced payments...> If Bayrou does not change his approach, we will put forward a vote of no confidence," Le Pen wrote on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

She also expressed regret that the Prime Minister's plan did not mention the possibility of reducing the cost of accepting migrants or reducing the contribution to the budget of the European Union (EU), which is expected to grow by €6 billion in 2026.

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French President Emmanuel Macron said on July 13 that the country's authorities intend to increase the growth rate of defense spending — in 2027 this figure should reach €64 billion. According to him, additional funds will be used to increase stocks of ammunition, drones, space assets, as well as to increase the level of training.