The measure most likely to rankle the French was a proposal to scrap two national holidays: Easter Monday and May 8, which commemorates the end of the Second World War in Europe and is often used as a “bridge” by the French to take a four-day weekend in the middle of spring.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou proposed scrapping two public holidays and freezing most public spending as part of a 43.8 billion euro ($50.88 billion) budget squeeze he outlined on Tuesday.

The proposal is among a raft of spending cuts laid out by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in a sweeping, and potentially doomed, budget plan.