French PM fuels row with trip to buy baguettes

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has visited a village bakery to buy several baguettes on Labour Day, reigniting a row with unions who argue that 1 May should remain a compulsory rest day.

"Let's have several... at least four," he said, paying at the bakery in Saint-Julien-Chapteuil, central France. The politician also bought some flowers from a nearby florist.

The visit was part of a government drive to exempt independent bakeries and flower shops from mandatory rest on Labour Day - a public holiday across the country.

Under French law, only essential services such as hospitals and hotels may be open, with employees being paid double wages. The status of bakeries and flower shops is unclear.

In response, Marylise Léon, the General Secretary of France's leading union, said: "Politicians going to a bakery, I think that's part of a political spectacle that we don't need today. We need to show what the reality of a bakery worker is like".

On Friday, Lecornu also phoned another baker, who had received a fine from labour inspectors for staying open on 1 May.

The prime minister reassured the baker named Eric that he would not have to pay, according to France's BFMTV and Europe1 news websites.

The baker potentially faces a fine of €5,250 (£4,532; $6,168) - €750 for each of his seven employees working on Labour Day.

Earlier this week, the French government presented a bill allowing bakeries and florists to be open on 1 May.

The proposal - which needs a parliamentary approval - says employees must state in writing that they volunteer to work, and should also be paid double for that day.

The government has been encouraging bakers to work on 1 May, describing them as being "indispensable to the continuity of social life".

Meanwhile, labour unions say staff in many cases could be pressured by their employers to volunteer to work or risk their employment contracts.

The unions warn that soon employees across France would be required to work on public holidays.

In April, the unions said in a joint statement that "social history shows us that each time a principle is undermined, exemptions gradually increase until they become the rule", according to the AFP news agency.