“If French Prime Minister François Bayrou loses his job in a confidence vote Monday, it will be due in no small part to his willingness to fiddle with a cornerstone of Gallic life: public holidays,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The freedom that French workers have to take extended breaks from the office has become as core to the national identity as pungent cheese and fine wine.”
“So when Bayrou proposed that France shave two holidays from the calendar—Easter Monday and May 8, which marks Nazi Germany’s surrender to Allies—his opponents branded the idea as bordering on treason.”