End of the 35-hour week, elimination of a public holiday… Gérald Darmanin criticizes the tax increases wanted by the government and assures that the French must “work more”

“A fiscal shock does not make an economic policy. And this path risks killing growth and creating mass unemployment,” warns the former Minister of Public Accounts and the Interior in an interview with the daily Les Echos. “When we take the tax slide, everyone ends up being concerned,” he continues.

As the presentation of the draft budget by Prime Minister Michel Barnier approaches on Thursday, the MP from the North is continuing his campaign of opposition to the temporary and targeted tax increases that the government is planning.

“It is paradoxical that a Prime Minister from the LR has as his first measure the sharp increase in taxes on companies and capital. We are losing our Latin,” annoys Mr. Darmanin, believing that “the subject in France is that we don’t work enough.”

“The right answer” would therefore be to “work more”, continues the Ensemble pour la République MP, announcing in passing that Michel Barnier will go to the meeting of the EPR group in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Gérald Darmanin then proposes several savings levers: a reform of public broadcasting, “the elimination of a second public holiday in both the public and private sectors”, the transition to “36 or 37 hours” of weekly work in the public sector, or the increase in registration fees for foreign students.

“Another option is to set up a second waiting day for sick leave in the public service,” suggests the parliamentarian from Tourcoing, who wants to “put a definitive end to the 35 hours”.

Although a member of the “common base” on which Michel Barnier intends to rely in the National Assembly, Gérald Darmanin also announces that he will not “vote” for the part dedicated to revenue in the finance bill for 2025, if it remains as is. “On the other hand, I could vote for savings in public spending,” he specifies.