Lazy nation

The Pentecost monday holiday has been officially abolished. But the French, who seem to always be lacking a few more days of paid vacation, aren't going to work.

Around half of French businesses, including many financial institutions, and many government services ranging from the post office to the Treasury are closed today as the public continues to take the Pentecost holiday despite its elimination by the government as a formal holiday last year, press reports said.

Businesses that are open are expected to be thinly staffed, and some public services face strikes.

Among financial institutions, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole, including its LCL (Credit Lyonnais) unit, will be closed, although insurance company Axa will be open.

The Transport Ministry has banned truck traffic throughout France, a normal holiday measure.

More:
Chirac's Bank Holiday ban is ignored as workers take the day off

Although the Bank Holiday has been abolished officially, even state employees are refusing to work. Schools, post offices and museums will close for the day and the state railway network will be offering a reduced service.

As if to underline M Chirac’s declining power, his ministers have been unable to impose the reform on their own ministries, which are also stopping work. In the private sector nearly half of French businesses will be on holiday, while the rest will remain open.

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Jean-Michel Thénard, a columnist for the newspaper Libération, said that France was slipping into a “surrealist world” governed by M Chirac’s “absurd poetry”.

“Employees are going to go to work, but they are going to have to find someone to look after the children because the schools are shut, check which trains are running and refrain from posting letters,” he wrote.

The chaos stems from a government decision to levy a 0.3 per cent corporate tax to fund a €2 billion scheme to help the elderly and the disabled.The tax, introduced after the 2003 heatwave that killed almost 15,000 elderly people in France, was to be financed by a Day of Solidarity, an extra seven-hour working day, which the Government decided would be Whit Monday.

But the first Journée de Solidarité last year turned into a fiasco amid a nationwide wave of strikes and protests. Many workers said that they were in favour of solidarity, but not if it meant losing one of their 11 annual Bank Holidays.

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The chaos is likely to inflict further damage on M Chirac, whose approval rating has plummeted to 17 per cent.