And finally…too much work hits Pierre in the pocket

A court in Dax, south-western France, handed €500 (£368) fines to the four from the town and nearby Saint-Paul-les-Dax saying they had flouted a 1999 prefectural order obliging any bakery to remain closed for at least one day per week.

A fifth baker was acquitted in Tuesday’s ruling.

The bakers say the ruling means they will likely have to cut jobs due to a drop in revenue and the episode has sparked a national debate over their desire to stay open seven days a week.

“We’re company bosses who are disgusted at being so in France,” Stéphane Moreau, one of the convicted bakers, told AFP news agency. “We’ll have to work less, pay less VAT and less payroll taxes and, if need be, lay off staff,” he said.

Another of the convicted bakers told RMC radio: “I have been left with a criminal record just for baking bread. Tomorrow I will have to lay people off.”

“France is doing everything to find jobs for those who are looking but me, because I make bread, I have to lay people off,” he said.

The bread makers’ plight hit the headlines in February after Stephane Cazenave, France’s top baguette baker, vented his fury after being ordered to close shop on Mondays.

He estimated the rule would see him lose €250,000 a year and force him to lay off some of his 22 staff.

“I am treated like a thug just because I asked to work,” said Mr Cazenave, winner of the “best baguette of France” award last year for his crusty loaves. “Working shouldn’t be a crime in France,” he told France 3.

The rule was all the more surreal he said, as it applied to the bakery itself not its employees, who were all given two days a week off.

He has since abided by the rule, but was fined all the same.

The case sparked anger among the opposition centre-Right, with François Fillon, the former prime minister, saying it should serve as a “wake up call for us to the absurdity of our system”.

But the Socialist government pointed out that the bakers themselves helped write the current rules.

“They were drawn up after negotiation, discussion with industry representatives to find necessary accords and the right balance,” he said.

Jean-Pierre Crouzet, head of the national baker’s and confectioner’s confederation backed the status quo, saying it encouraged competition by obliging people to buy bread elsewhere at least once a week.

“They aren’t to prevent people from working but to ensure a balance, to promote the quality of products,” he said.