French public services plan July 2 strike

Staff from several public sector services across France will stage walkouts next week as part of a co-ordinated strike highlighting the risk these services face from proposed reforms. 

Employees from bodies including Ademe (ecological transition agency), Anses (food and health agency) and Santé publique France are among those taking part in strikes on Thursday, July 2. 

Issues including budget cuts, interference, the increasing number of temporary workers as opposed to full-time civil servant staff, and restructuring plans have placed the services in “mortal danger,” members have warned.

Demonstrations outside the Assemblée nationale were initially scheduled to take place on June 23 but were postponed until July 2 due to the current heatwave across France. 

As these groups do not provide direct services, unlike for example health workers at hospitals, members of the public will not be directly impacted by the strike, but are being urged to support the demonstrations and support the work that the members of the different agencies carry out. 

Example of services offered by the groups include: 

• Updates on health situations including Covid-19, winter flu, dengue and chikungunya spreads by Santé Publique France 

• Information over food safety issues including cadmium levels and mercury in tuna from Anses

• Tips and advice over France’s ecological transition from Ademe, including property renovations and energy-saving measures

Government is ‘targeting state agencies’ 

“Our agencies and institutions are all facing the same issues: the dismantling of employment status, job cuts, an increase in contract workers, repeated mergers, shrinking subsidies, and budget cuts,” Lise Soulier, a member of the national de l’information géographique et forestière told French media outlets. 

“These repeated attacks are worsening our working conditions, making our workforce more precarious, and preventing us from fulfilling our missions—particularly our public service mandates,” she added.

In her view, the government is “serving private interests and dismantling public services piece by piece by targeting state agencies.” 

One example is plans to merge Ademe’s local work with the DREAL (directions régionales de l’environnement, de l’aménagement et du logement), which would likely see its focus on ecological elements sidelined. 

Ademe distributed around €2.8 billion in grants in 2025, largely dedicated to improving France’s green credentials.

Architecture body CAUE (Conseil d'architecture, d'urbanisme et de l'environnement), a group that offers free building advice, will see potentially 60% of its workforce cut by the end of the year.

Health concerns 

Public health bodies are also concerned about their work being subsumed into local authorities, diminishing their role to inform the public rather than act as arms of the health service. 

Bodies have highlighted blocks on national prevention campaigns in recent months – for example anti-betting campaigns in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup and support for World No Tobacco Day on May 31 – and a lack of support for heatwave warning material in the historic May 2026 heatwave.

“These health agencies were created specifically to clearly separate assessment from management, enabling politicians or decision-makers to make fully informed decisions,” said epidemiologist with Santé Publique France Olivier Catelinois, quoted in Le Monde. 

“Questioning public bodies today—including health and environmental agencies—is a repudiation of history,” he added.