France's Whit Monday Public Holiday Will Likely Not Return

Sources: Our post of April 7 and France public holidays. Last night's victory by center-right presidential candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, means that the restoration of the Whit Monday public holiday (one of the Socialist Party's Manifesto promises), is unlikely.

Analysis: Technically, the socialists could still win the upcoming legislative elections (June 10 and June 17) and thereby force the selection of a socialist Prime Minister who would declare Whit Monday a public holiday. However, after last night's defeat of Mrs. Royal, the socialist candidate, it seems that the socialists are going to tear themselves apart, with Laurent Fabius (Prime Minister from 1984-1986, and living off taxpayers for the last 21 years) trying to steer the socialists towards the extreme left, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (former Finance Minister, generally respected on all sides of the political spectrum) trying to make the French Socialist party into a modern, center-left party, compatible with all the other socialist parties in Europe. In that context it is unlikely that the socialists will get a majority in the legislative elections next month.

Weekly Review - May 5, 2007

This post is part of of a series of weekly posts that will summarize the highlights of the past week, and point out important announcements that can be expected in the upcoming weeks.

After last week's public holidays announcements roller coaster, this past week was rather quiet, due to most countries and their governments being on holidays for a good part of the week.

• Most of Europe and South America was on holiday on May 1st, and in many cases also on Monday April 30, and in the case of Poland, also on Thursday, May 3.
• China was observing public holidays all week.
• Japan was off for most of the week (except May 1 and 2).
• Most of South-East Asia, not only celebrated May Day, but in most cases also celebrated Buddha's Birthday on May 2.

Sri Lanka lost against Australia, in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup on Saturday, April 28, and therefore no additional special holiday was declared, as had happened in 1996, the last time Sri Lanka won the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Belgium: The week continued to see negative reactions to the April 24 announcement that May 2, 2008, would be a special one-off public holiday in Belgium, to compensate the fact that, in 2008, both the May Day public Holiday and Ascension occur on the same date. But so far, there is no indication that the government will change its mind.

China: As the May Day Golden Week (May 1-7, 2007) public holiday begins, and chaos mounts as 160 million Chinese travel all at once, the China Daily reports that there are renewed calls to reform the Golden Weeks system, introduced in 1999. In our post of March 2, we reported on proposals to cut back the Labour Day, Chinese New Year and National Day, golden week public holidays, and replace these lost days with more traditional holidays, such as Quingming.

Outlook For The Next Few Weeks

Liberia: On Friday, April 27, 2007, the United Nations lifted the 2001 ban against Liberian exports of diamonds (BBC News). This is a strong vote of confidence in Liberia's President, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf, who took office in January 2006, and was the first woman to be elected president of an African country. This is also a potential saving measure for Liberia's economy which suffers from 85% unemployment. It is conceivable that a one-time public holiday will be declared in the coming days or weeks to mark the occasion.

Puerto Rico: Over the last few years, there have are regular calls by the business community to reduce the number of public holidays in Puerto Rico, in particular for civil servants, but so far nothing ever happened. However, El Nuevo Día reports that a recent conference was held between business, government and academia on the subject, and that changes may finally be on the horizon.

Barbados is considering also moving public holidays that fall on a Saturday to the next Monday (currently, only public holidays that fall on a Sunday are moved to the next Monday). Source: The Barbados Advocate.

Ireland Not Considering Adding A New Public Holiday "At The Moment"

Sources Sunday Tribune and Ireland public holidays. Minister for labour affairs, Tony Killeen, was quoted as stating, in the Dail last week, that no increase in public holidays was being contemplated "at the moment". However both the Public Service Executive Union and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions are pushing for extra public holidays as part of the current national agreement negotiations. The last time a new public holiday was added to Ireland's list was the May Bank Holiday, in 1994, as part of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.

Philippines Regional Public Holiday Declared For May 7

Sources: Balita and Philippines public holidays. By virtue of Proclamation No. 1285, signed Thursday by Executive Secretary, Eduardo Ermita, by authority of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Office of the President declared Monday, May 7, as a special non-working holiday in San Pablo to give its residents the opportunity to celebrate the 67th anniversary or foundation day of their city.

Bulgaria Modifies Schedule of Bridge Holidays Compensating Working Saturdays

Sources: Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry email news bulletin and Bulgaria public holidays. The Council of Ministers has cancelled the special working Saturday of May 19, 2007, and has moved it to June 2, 2007, instead. The reason for the change is that, since the original listing of working Saturdays was drawn-up, the European Parliamentary Elections were announced for Sunday, May 20, 2007.

Kuwait May Consider Adding May Day To List Of Public Holidays

Sources: Arab Times Kuwait and Kuwait public holidays. The Chairman of the Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF), Khaled Al-Azemi, called on Tuesday for declaring May 1st an official day in Kuwait to honor the working class in line with the tradition in many other countries. Analysis: Obviously a call for a new public holiday, coming from a trade union, is not a big surprise. But as the UAE is seriously considering the same change, at an official government level, it is possible that there will be a ripple effect from the UAE to Kuwait.

UAE Announces It Will Honour Workers On May 1st Beginning Next Year

Sources: Gulf News and UAE public holidays. UAE Minister of Labour, Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, marked the International Labour Day by congratulating workers for their contribution to development of the UAE, and by announcing that, from next year, workers would be honoured in the UAE on May Day. Analysis: It is not clear from the announcement, if this means that May 1st will become a public holiday in the UAE. We will continue to monitor, and report on, any further developments.

Canada's Federal Elections To Be Held Every Four Years From Now On

Sources: Government of Canada Privy Council Office, Radio-Canada and Canada public holidays. The Canadian Senate has passed the Fixed Election Dates Bill. This bill proposes that Canadian federal elections be held on the third Monday in October, four years after the previous general election day, and specifically sets out the date for the next general election as October 19, 2009. The proposed legislation, Bill C-16, is scheduled to receive royal assent on Thursday.

Brazil's São Paulo Declares Municipal Public Holiday On May 11

Sources: O Estadao de São Paulo and Brazil public holidays. After weeks of back and forth rumours, announcements, and counter announcements (see our review of April 27) the city of São Paulo has finally decided to declare a ponto facultativo, on May 11, 2007, on the occasion of the ceremony when Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Frey Galvão, Brazil's first saint ever.

Bhutan Upcoming Elections To Be Held A Weekday And Declared A Public Holiday

Sources: Kuensel and Bhutan public holidays. Election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, speaking on behalf of the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB), announced that "We have now decided to conduct the election on a weekday and that day will be declared as a public holiday so that more people can come and vote".

Analysis: This announcement follows last month's test-run parliamentary elections, held on Saturday, April 21, 2007, and which registered a low voter turnout, due, according to observers, to being held on a Saturday, the sole day available for most people to run errands. The first "live" parliamentary election is expected to be held a year from now.

Gibraltar Moves May Day To Monday May 7

Sources: The Gibraltar Chronicle and Gibraltar public holidays. Gibraltar's May Day/Labour Day public holiday, for this year, has been moved to Monday, May 7, 2007.

Analysis: This is not the first time that Gibraltar tinkers with the date of the May Day/Labour Day public holiday. In 2001, the Gibraltar government attempted to change the date of Labour Day from 1st May, to bring it in line with the UK's corresponding public holiday which is set for the first Monday in May. This first attempt was dropped when opposed by the TGWU (Gibraltar's most powerful union). Then, in 2002 the date was changed, but a motion to the House of Assembly, asked for for May 1st to be restored. It was too late for 2002, or so claimed the government, but it set it back to May 1st starting in 2003. And now, in 2007, the saga continues. We are not convinced that it will not be brought back to May 1st in 2008. We will keep on monitoring further developments.

El Salvador To Officialize Civil Servants' Bridge Holidays For Next Year

Sources: elsalvador.com and El Salvador public holidays. El Salvador's ruling ARENA party has asked the legislative assembly to revise the public sector's public holidays law (Ley de Asuetos y Vacaciones de los Empleados Públicos), by enshrining the concept of bridge holidays begun on a case-by-case basis this year. If implemented, the law would make a one-off, bridge public holiday, any Monday that is followed by a Tuesday public holiday, or any Friday that is preceded by a Thursday public holiday. As compensation, the Saturday of the week-end preceding the bridge holiday weekend, would be a normal working day.

Saipan Governor Considering Making Austerity Fridays Into Public Holidays

Sources: The Saipan Tribune and Saipan public holidays. In his annual State of the Commonwealth speech, last week, Governor Benigno R. Fitial suggested that austerity Fridays be replaced with unpaid legal holidays. A House-approved bill proposing this is sitting now in the Senate. This would make every other Friday a forced, unpaid public holiday, for civil servants.

Bangladesh Confirms Buddha Purnima Public Holiday Tomorrow May 2nd

Sources: The Daily Star and Bangladesh public holidays. Sources in Bangladesh have confirmed that the Buddha Purnima Public Holiday, would occur tomorrow, on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

Analysis: Although this was the date that we have been predicting to our clients since the summer of 2005, it is always worthwhile to re-confirm matters, in the case of South-East Asian religious holidays, and particularly in the case of Buddhist public holidays.

Note that the quoted source, one of the leading newspapers in Bangladesh can be relied upon for the date of the Buddha Purnima Public Holiday in Bangladesh, but it is far less reliable when it asserts that the date will be the same "all over the world" as it was today, May 1st, in Sri Lanka, and will only be celebrated on May 31st, in Singapore, to name only 2 countries.

Mali Declares Surprise April 30 Public Holiday

Sources: Sociolingo, Mali Radio, and Mali public holidays. Reports from Mali indicate that a national public holiday was announced on the radio, late Sunday night, for Monday, April 30, 2007.

India's Goa State Declares May 5 Public Holiday

Sources: Goa Herald and India public holidays. The government of the Indian State of Goa has declared Saturday, May 5, 2007, as a public holiday which shall be a paid holiday to the industrial workers as well as daily wage workers of both public and private sectors in the State of Goa.

Russia Declares Public Holiday On April 30

Sources: TASS and Russia public holidays. The Russian government moved the working day of April 30, to April 28. As a result, Monday, April 30 will be a day off in Russia, while Saturday, April 28, will be a regular working day.

Philippines Regional Public Holiday Declared For April 30

Sources: Balita and Philippines public holidays. By authority of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita signed Proclamation No. 1282 declaring Monday, April 30, 2007, as a special non-working holiday in Dagupan, in order to give the people of Dagupan a chance to celebrate their Bangus Festival.

Canada's Manitoba Province New Public Holiday On Third Monday In February

Sources: Press Communique of the Province of Manitoba and Canada public holidays. As we announced in our our post of April 8, Nancy Allan, the Minister for Labor and Immigration of the Canadian province of Manitoba, has introduced a bill in Parliament to create a new provincial public holiday in February.

• The date of this new public holiday seems now fixed as the third Monday in February, which would bring it in line with the similar provincial public holidays of the neighboring provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
• According to the press communique, opening hours during this new public holiday would be based on those of regular Sundays.
• The name of this new public holiday has not been set yet, so for the moment we will call it Family Day, as it is called in neighboring provinces (and since the law proposal stresses that spending more time with one's family is one of the reasons for this new public holiday).

One will also recall our news story of February 17, in which we reported on a British Columbia private member's bill to declare Flag Day, February 15, a federal holiday.

Weekly Review - April 27, 2007

This is the first of a series of weekly posts that will summarize the highlights of the past week, and point out important announcements that can be expected in the upcoming weeks.

In terms of the sheer number of rumours, counter-rumours, and announcements, the public holidays news of the past week were clearly dominated, in a two-way tie, by Brazil and the Philippines.

• The Philippines achieved top ranking this week through a clever mix of its usual chaotic tradition of declaring public holidays at the last minute (May 14 mid-term elections holiday) and of having government officials feed contradictory rumours for as long as possible (April 30 bridge holiday), all the while keeping everyone as confused as possible, by having official announcements and laws painstakingly differentiate between "regular holidays", "special days", "non-working days" and "nationwide special days", without ever defining these terms. The masterstroke was that, in a Machiavellian prelude to the events of this week, the Philippines had announced in January 2007 that, henceforth, it would announce all one-off holidays once and for all at the beginning of the year, and make no further changes. Of course, no one believed it, making the final decision on the status of April 30 even more stunning to all concerned.

• While the Philippines used sheer technique, with a few strategically released choice news morsels, Brazil used a strategy based on overwhelming numerical superiority, with multiple, contradictory announcements, everyday, and often on the same day, to occupy the center stage of public holidays news. The main story, all week, was the status to be given to May 11, 2007, the day when Pope Benedict XVI will come to Brazil to canonize Frei Galvão, the first Brazilian to ever achieve sainthood. Brazil began, quite cleverly, by making an unambiguous announcement on March 28 that May 11, 2007, would be a national public holiday, full stop. But then, a series of contradictory announcements, began to chip at the once clear-cut decision (see our recent summary). This saturation of the news was truly a team effort, with a cast composed of right-wing senators, leftist assemblymen, and even a bishop going against the position expected of him. Meanwhile, as a background drumbeat to carry the main story forward, we had the issue of what to do about Monday April 30. There, Brazil was immensely helped by its highly federal structure, which meant that it could occupy the forefront of the news, everyday, with a different state announcing a ponto facultativo for April 30. To break up the rhythm, many municipalities also took the time to announce a ponto facultativo for April 30, even in some cases when the state where they were located had already done the same.

Elsewhere in the world, the status of Monday, April 30, 2007, was also a topic of great interest, but the week passed without any last minute surprises.

• In Latin America, most countries that observe Labour Day on May 1st, chose to keep that date as the date of observance. However, due to the uncertainty in the general population, many countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, ...) felt it necessary to officially re-iterate that Labour Day was to be held on May 1st. Some countries, will be celebrating Labour Day on April 30, such as the Dominican Republic, but this change had been announced in December of 2006, and in the case of Peru, where an additional public holiday was declared for April 30, the announcement dated from September 2006, hardly a surprise.

• An interesting trend, particularly in Eastern Europe, is to declare Monday or Friday public holidays, whenever the Tuesday or Thursday is a public holiday, but to require workers to work a Saturday as compensation. As a result of that mechanism, April 30, 2007, will be a public holiday in Bulgaria, El Salvador, Hungary, Latvia and the Ukraine.

• Only Romania declared April 30 as an additional public holiday while keeping May 1st as a holiday, and without asking its workers to work another day as compensation.

In other news, to compensate for the fact that both Ascension Day and May Day fall on the same day in 2008, Belgium decided to declare May 2, 2008, as a public holiday (after having first strongly hinted that it would declare Sunday, August 10, 2008, a public holiday, a real crowd-pleaser, as you can imagine).

Outlook For The Next Few Weeks

Sri Lanka is playing against Australia, in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup on Saturday, April 28. If Australia wins, it is unlikely that it will declare a public holiday to mark the occasion. However, if Sri Lanka wins, we may very well see a public holiday being announced (it happened in 1996, the last time Sri Lanka won the ICC Cricket World Cup). As there are already 2 public holidays in Sri Lanka, next week, one could even imagine the government declaring a 3-day public holiday and hence giving the remainder of the week off.

France is holding the second round of its presidential elections, next weekend, on Sunday, May 6, 2007. For the moment the race is somewhat close, although the center-right candidate, Mr. Sarkozy, has a current lead over Mrs. Royal, the socialist candidate, supported as well by all the parties of the extreme left, and who started this week assiduously courting the center-left candidate who was eliminated in the first round elections last Sunday. One of the promises of France's socialists, for this election, was to re-instate Whit Monday as a public holiday. In principle, this would only affect 2008's Whit Monday, as this year it occurs on May 28, which is before the legislative elections of June 10 and 17 (a vote of parliament would be required to change the status of Whit Monday, and currently the parliamentary majority is center-right). One can, however, assume that if Mrs. Royal wins the presidential elections, one will see enough chaos on the streets on Whit Monday 2007, to make it a non-working day for all intents and purposes.

The United Kingdom should soon announce the date for the proposed one off public holiday to commemorate the 60th wedding anniversary of Queen Elisabeth II with Prince Philip. Currently, the date announced for this public holiday is Tuesday August 28, 2007, the day after the Summer Bank Holiday. The problem is that the Summer Bank Holiday is not a public holiday in Scotland, which would leave Scots with a standalone Tuesday public holiday.

Liberia: On Friday, April 27, 2007, the United Nations lifted the 2001 ban against Liberian exports of diamonds (BBC News). This is a strong vote of confidence in Liberia's President, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf, who took office in January 2006, and was the first woman to be elected president of an African country. This is also a potential saving measure for Liberia's economy which suffers from 85% unemployment. It is conceivable that a one-time public holiday will be declared in the coming days or weeks to mark the occasion.

Brazil Reaches A Compromise on May 11 Canonization Of Frei Galvão

Sources: Repórter Diário and Brazil public holidays. After almost a month of proposals and counter-proposals, yesterday, the government and opposition reached an agreement declaring May 11, 2007, "Dia Nacional de Frei Galvão", and pointing out that it is neither a national holiday (feriado nacional), nor an optional holiday (ponto facultativo), nor even a religious observance day (dia-santo). That is to say, the day will have no impact of business life, and we have accordingly removed it from our list of Brazil holidays.

In a related story, the municipality of São Paulo did consider, for awhile, declaring a municipal holiday on May 11, if only to alleviate traffic congestion, but it had to abandon the idea as according to law 9.093/1995, only the Federal Government may declare civil holidays, and each city is limited to declaring 5 municipal public holidays, one on the anniversary of the foundation of the city, and 4 religious ones. But São Paulo has already declared 4 municipal holidays, through its municipal law 13.707 of 2004: January 25 (foundation anniversary), Good Friday, Corpus Christi, All Souls' Day (November 2), and the Day of Black Consciousness (Dia da Consciência Negra) on November 20.

Fragmented Week Ahead As Namibia Observes Two Public Holidays

Sources: The Namibian and Namibia public holidays. Next week, Namibia will be observing 2 public holidays, Workers' Day on Tuesday, May 1st, and Cassinga Day on Friday, May 4, and reports from Namibia indicate that many people are taking the entire week off, and that there are cases of companies actually closing down for the week.

April 29 Bridge Holiday In Spain's Capital Madrid

Sources: El Pais and Spain public holidays. Although Monday April 29 is not an official public holiday in Spain, many individuals will be taking that day as a bridge to the following day's May Day public holiday, in a practice locally called hacer puente (making a bridge), and many schools throughout Spain have officially given the day off to their students. The bridge holiday effect will be even greater in Spain's capital, Madrid, as the May 1st public holiday will immediately be followed by a public holiday specific to Madrid and its province, on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, making a 5-day holiday possible with only one unpaid day.

Mexico Confirms Labour Day On May 1st And No Bridge Holiday

Souces: El Financiero and Mexico public holidays. Mexico's Secretary of Labour announced that Tuesday, May 1, 2007, would be an official public holiday (día de descanso obligatorio) and dashed any hopes of a long weekend by specifying that Monday, April 29, 2007, would be a normal working day.

Analysis: This announcement was a much needed clarification, as many individuals and businesses are still confused as to the status of public holidays that occur mid-week, following the 2006 amendments to article 74 of the Federal Labour Law that made some public holidays move from a fixed date to a Monday, while others did not, while some of the changes were effective in 2006 and some only in 2007.

Nicaragua Clarifies Date Of Upcoming Labour Day Public Holiday

Sources: El Nuevo Diario and Nicaragua public holidays. After 2 confusing and contradictory announcements, a press communique from the Ministry of Labour of Nicaragua, finally confirmed, late this afternoon, that Nicaragua would observe the Labour Day public holiday on Tuesday, May 1, 2007, as per article 66 of the Labour Code. Note that earlier this afternoon, some sources were placing the upcoming public holiday on Monday, then an hour later, it was corrected to Wednesday, before finally being corrected to Tuesday, May 1, 2007.

Many Brazilian States and Municipalities Declare Bridge Holiday for April 30

Sources: Brazil public holidays. Over the last few days, many Brazilian states (Recife, Mato Grosso do Sul, ...) and municipalities (Sinop, Campo Grande, ...) have declared Monday, April 30, 2007, as a bridge holiday (ponto facultativo), linking the weekend to the public holiday of May 1st. We would therefore advise business traveler to Brazil to verify ahead of time if next Monday is a working day where they are planning to go.

Togo Begins Rotation of Independence Day Main Celebration on April 27

Sources: Jeune Afrique and Togo public holidays. Togo officials have announced that tomorrow's Independence Day main official celebration would be held in Dapaong, in the savanna region, 600 km north of the capital, Lomé, and that this rotation of the annual location of the main celebration would continue in future years.

Analysis: This is a trend that seems to be developping in Africa, with other countries, such as Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, already rotating the location of their annual national holiday celebration.

Vietnam Business Slowdown Expected on Friday April 27

Sources: Thanh Nien and Vietnam public holidays. A combination of calendrical coincidences, and the weather, make it quite likely that business life will shift into low gear tomorrow, Friday, April 27, 2007. First, from April 26 to May 1, there are 6 days, 2 of which are weekend days, and 3 of which are public holidays (April 26, April 30 and May 1), which leaves only tomorrow, April 27 as a possible working day. However, the celebrations for the Hung Kings new public holiday on April 26 are set to last 2 days (although the official public holiday only lasts one day), and to top it all, weather forecasts for this potentially very long weekend all predict balmy weather.

Extra Week of Holidays in October for Colombia's Education Sector

Sources: Presidencia de la República and Colombia public holidays. Earlier this week, Colombian President, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, signed into law the decree 1373 of the Ministry of Education, making the week preceding the Día de la Raza national public holiday, a week off for teaching staff and students from kindergarten through high school (establecimientos de educación preescolar, básica y media). The communique stresses that this extra week does not change the 7 weeks of holidays that teaching civil servants already have as per decree 1850 of 2002.

Analysis: Although the decree does not specify the dates of the week it refers to, as the Día de la Raza national public holiday falls on Monday, October 15, in 2007, it means that the 5 additional days off granted to the education sector will be from October 8-12, 2007, inclusively.

Ecuador Confirms Labour Day on May 1st

Sources: El Universo and Ecuador public holidays. The government of Ecuador confirmed that the upcoming Labour Day public holiday (Día del Trabajo) would be observed on Tuesday, May 1, 2007, and not be moved to the previous Monday as the common practice in South America would lead some to believe. This applies to both the private and public sectors, although the public sector announcement was made independently through the Secretaría Nacional de Remuneraciones del Sector Público (Senres). Note that Ecuador's 2007 Labour Day remaining fixed on May 1st, corresponds to the list of Ecuador public holidays that we published on August 5th of last year.

Nepal Begins Buddha Jayanti Celebration Week Leading to May 2 Public Holiday

Sources: The Rising Nepal and Nepal public holidays. This year, Nepal will celebrate the 2551st anniversary of the birth of Lord Gautam Buddha, with a week-long programme beginning Thursday, April 26, 2007, and culminating with the public holiday of Buddha Jayanti, on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

Bolivia Confirms Labour Day on May 1st

Sources: Agencia Boliviana de Información, Xinhua News Agency and Bolivia public holidays. The Bolivian Ministry of Labour announced, yesterday, that Bolivia would not move the observance of Labour Day (Día del Trabajador) from May 1 to Monday, April 30, 2007. Note that this year's May 1st celebrations will also coincide with the first anniversary of the nationalization of petroleum resources by the Morales government.

Analysis: This official government announcement confirms the listing of 2007 public holidays in Bolivia, that we published on August 5, 2006. Although, the moving of public holidays that fall on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays, to the nearest Monday is quite common in South America, in Bolivia, the general rule is that fixed date holidays remain on the date that they celebrate. In any event, even in countries that have specific rules for moving mid-week public holidays, there are exceptions for patriotic public holidays (Independence Day, in Paraguay) or public holidays that are deemed too solemn to move around (Truth and Justice Memorial Day, in Argentina).

Approval of Brazil's Upcoming May 11 Public Holiday Uncertain

Sources: Agência O Globo and Brazil public holidays. It is becoming less and less likely that the May 11, 2007, one-off public holiday voted by the Senate last month, will come to pass. Accordingly, we have changed its status in our database of Brazil's public holidays to "tentative".

Analysis: Recall that the bill declaring this public holiday was initiated in the Senate, last month, to coincide with the May 11, 2007, visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Brazil on the occasion of the canonization of Frei Galvão, the first Brazilian saint, ever (our post of March 28).

At the time, the final approval of this bill looked like a foregone conclusion. However, dissenting voices started to be heard almost immediately, leading some to propose reducing its importance from full national public holiday (feriado nacional) to optional day off (ponto facultativo), as detailed in our post of April 10.

Then, in a slightly weird episode (our post of April 12), the Council of Brazilian Bishops, came out with an almost anti-endorsement of the idea, insisting that the public holiday, if it came to pass should be considered as a lay, national holiday, that had nothing to do with the Church. To further confuse the issue, the Council floated the idea that perhaps the May 11 public holiday could be observed only in the São Paulo municipal area, to facilitate traffic.

If one also remembers that Brazil recently converted 3 public holidays' status from "ponto facultativo" to "feriado nacional" (our post of March 7), one can easily imagine how pro-business deputies on the right, and deputies attached to the separation of State and Church, on the left, joined forces to defeat this proposed bill.

Today, the reporter of the bill before parliament, came out squarely against it, and proposed instead a simple homage, stripped of any religious connotation (homenagem cultural e não religiosa), to the man as a citizen (homenagem ao "cidadão Frei Galvão"). Voting will occur in the next few days, and we will post an update as soon as we have anything definite. In the meanwhile, as mentioned above, we have changed its status in our database of Brazil's public holidays to "tentative".

Romania Declares Public Holiday on April 30

Sources: Mediafax and Romania public holidays. Earlier today, the government of Romania declared that Monday, April 30, 2007, would be a one-off public holiday (non-working day). Note that, according to the Romanian labour code, the next day, May 1st, is also a non-working day, as it is a national holiday.

Philippines Declares May 14 Public Holiday

Sources: Sun Star and Philippines public holidays. Following-up on our earlier post, we have just learned that, late this afternoon (Manila time), during his weekly press conference, Executive Secretary, Eduardo Ermita, announced that Philippines President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, had issued Proclamation 1279 which makes Monday, May 14, 2007, the day of the upcoming mid-term elections, a non-working holiday throughout the country “to give the people the fullest opportunity to exercise their right of suffrage”.

In the same announcement, the Executive Secretary reiterated that April 30 is a regular working day and that the May Day, or Labor Day, public holiday will be observed on Tuesday May 1, 2007 (see our post of yesterday).

Analysis: As per article 94-c of the Labour Code, the day of a general election is a public holiday in the Philippines. However, Executive Order 203 dated June 30, 1987, was later issued, aiming to list exhaustively all "regular holidays" and "special days" (both terms which, to this day, remain unclear in their definition), in effect superseding article 94-c of the Labour Code. But, in fact, Executive Order 203 was followed almost every year by a last-minute announcement that the upcoming election day would indeed be a public holiday. When we say "last-minute", we really mean it; in 2004, the general election "nationwide special public holiday" was declared through Proclamation 628, of May 6, 2004, only four days before the May 10, 2004, election date.

Lithuania Updates List of Public Holidays on the "Office of the President" Website

Sources: Private communications with the Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania. There was a discrepancy between the list of Lithuanian public holidays on the official website of the Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Lithuania public holidays published on the Q++ Studio web site. In particular, Mothers' Day, a full-fledged public holiday in Lithuania, was missing from the official Lithuanian website. This was corrected this morning, to match our listing of Lithuanian public holidays. Our thanks to Veronica, for bringing this discrepancy to our attention, and to Andrius, for promptly updating the official web site of the President of the Republic of Lithuania.

Philippines' May 14 Mid-Term Elections Public Holiday Not Confirmed Yet

(see follow-up post of later the same day) Sources: The Manila Standard Today and Philippines Public Holidays. The Philippines mid-term general elections will be held in less than a month, on May 14, 2007. Traditionally, the day of a general election is declared as a public holiday, but there is no official announcement, yet, one way or the other, as to whether that day will be a public holiday, this time around.

Mali Declares April 25 Public Holiday

Sources: L'Essor, Sociolingo and Mali Public Holidays. Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 25, 2007, has been declared a civic day ("journée d'engagement civique") in Mali, corresponding to a public holiday, as the day will be paid, but not worked, nationally ("journée chômée et payée sur toute l'étendue du territoire national"), so that people can go and collect their voting cards for the upcoming presidential election on April 29, 2007.

Dominican Republic's May Day Public Holiday Confirmed for Monday April 30th

Sources: El Nacional and Dominican Republic Public Holidays. Media reports have confirmed that this year's May Day public holiday in the Dominican Republic, would be observed on Monday, April 30, 2007.

Analysis: This is as expected; the law 139-97 of June 19, 1997, clearly states that public holidays that are neither patriotic, nor religious, in character, shall be moved to the closest Monday if they occur on a weekday. This general principle, must be reconfirmed at the end of every year for the next, and it was (our post of December 6, 2006).

After Some Hesitation Philippines Keeps May Day Public Holiday on Tuesday May 1st

Sources: The Philippine Star, The Manila Times and Philippines Public Holidays. Late last week and yesterday, rumours started appearing that Monday, April 30, 2007, would be declared a "non-working day", instead of the May Day public holiday scheduled for Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Then, this afternoon (GMT), the Manila Times reported that Labor Secretary, Arturo Brion, came out squarely against the idea of declaring a non-working day at such a late date. Later, the Philippines Star reported that Executive Secretary, Eduardo Ermita, confirmed that Malacañang (the Philippines equivalent of the US White House) was standing by the date of May 1st.

Analysis: Recall from our post of January 19 that for 2007, the government had promised the business community that it would specify any non-working days at the beginning of the year and not make any further changes. In that context, President Arroyo issued Proclamation No. 1211 on January 10, 2007, listing 4 non-working days in 2007: April 7, June 11, November 2 and December 24. Conspicuously absent from that list was Monday, April 30, although at the time it had been mentioned as a possible non-working day.