French Prime Minister Mr Jean-PierreRaffarin has announced the creation of a fund to improve healthcare for elderly and handicapped people.
The fund will be financed by making people work an extra day per year starting from 2004.
He said the project, which leaves it to companies to choose which public holiday or other non-work day they suppress, aimed to raise an extra €1.9 billion per year in social security income generated by the extra day worked.
The move follows an outcry over care for the elderly after a summer heatwave killed 15,000 mostly old-aged people.