“November 11 is untouchable,” says the president of Souvenir Français

The government is considering eliminating a second public holiday in order to save money. The November 11 option is not one for Serge Barcellini.

“November 11 is untouchable”estimates Serge Barcellini, general president of Souvenir Français, guest of France Bleu Lorraine Nord Monday morning, November 11, while the government plans to eliminate a second non-working day in the year to make budgetary savings. 16 years ago, Pentecost Monday was transformed into a day of solidarity, but Serge Barcellini does not believe in the suppression of November 11. “I think we are incapable of tinkering with the November 11 public holiday, which is a public holiday that was demanded by the veteran world in 1922”he assures.

In his eyes, this day is “almost untouchable, especially since under the presidency of President Sarkozy, the theme of November 11 was extended to all OPEX [les opérations militaires extérieures]fighters who die today on the ground”. He imagines that “November 11th will increasingly be, tomorrow, the great day of the fighting world, that is to say the day of fighting memory, just as there is a Memorial Day in the United States or in England”. For him, “objectively, November 11 is untouchable”.

In revenge, 8-Mai to “a very complicated commemorative story”recalls Serge Barcellini. May 8 alternated between public holiday and working day, he describes. It has become a public holiday “by the decision of the Fourth Republic in 1954 and it was abolished as a public holiday by General de Gaulle when he came to power in 1959”continues Serge Barcellini. It became a public holiday again in 1981 “by President Mitterrand to oppose what President Giscard d'Estaing had done in 1975, who had suppressed the commemoration of May 8”relates the president of Souvenir Français.

Serge Barcellini thinks that “May 8 is therefore a much more complex day and we can imagine that some will think of re-eliminating the May 8 public holiday”. But on May 8 in 2025, “we are going to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism. I cannot see a government eliminating the public holiday before the commemoration of May 8, 2025”predicts Serge Barcellini.