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Want to maximise your annual leave? Here’s how to use public holidays to your advantage

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EU countries must give a minimum of 20 days paid annual leave – but some member states are more generous.

In the EU, all employees are entitled to a minimum of four weeks’ paid holiday per year.

Some countries set this figure higher, while others have a calendar of public holidays that can be used to maximise your annual leave.

Taking time off work not only boosts your mental and physical health but also helps increase productivity and performance when you return, according to European Employment Services (EURES).

So how does your country’s annual holiday allowance stack up?

Here’s which European countries offer the most leave, and which have the most public holidays.

Which European country offers the most paid annual leave?

The minimum statutory annual paid leave differs across the EU, ranging from 20 days per year in most member states to 25 days in some countries.

Eighteen countries offer the minimum under EU law – 20 days – according to 2020 data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These include Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Outside of the EU, Switzerland also offers 20 days, while the UK minimum is 28 days, including bank holidays.

Austria, France, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark offer a minimum of 25 days statutory annual paid leave per year.

Companies are at liberty to offer more than the minimum annual leave allowance. Often, this is determined by years of service, type of contract and occupation.

Collective bargaining, for example through unions, has also boosted workers’ paid leave by as much as five days per year in some European countries.

Which EU country has the most public holidays?

Sick leave, weekly rest, maternity, long service leave, parental leave and – in most countries – public holidays are calculated separately from paid annual holiday leave.

In 2020, the statutory annual public holidays among EU countries varied from six days in Greece to 15 days in Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. It was more than 10 days for most member states. The EU average was 11.7 days.

National public holidays are the non-working days in which a variety of cultural and religious holidays, including national and independence days, are enshrined in statutory legislation. They can also exist de facto as unwritten cultural traditions and may vary by year.

Combining minimum paid leave and public holidays in the EU, Greece has the lowest allowance at 26 days while Austria and Malta offer the highest at 38 days. The EU average is 33 days.

When a public holiday falls on a weekend or rest day, practices differ by country. In some places, it is offered in lieu on the next working day. In others, no extra days off are provided. When employees are required to work on public holidays, it is often down to the employer to decide whether to offer days off in lieu.

In the UK, public holidays count towards the 28-day statutory minimum leave, so if employees work on these days they would be entitled to a different day off.

How to maximise your annual leave in 2024

By planning your time off around public holidays, you can maximise your consecutive days of holiday leave, allowing you to take longer breaks.

Tips for maximising your annual leave in the UK

Easter is a great time to maximise your annual leave. Good Friday (29 March) and Easter Monday (1 April) are public holidays in the UK. You can make it a 10-day break by using just four days of your annual leave. Take off either 25-28 March or 2-5 April. You can also get two weeks off for Easter while only taking eight days of leave.

This year, the Early May Bank Holiday falls on 6 May. You can take off 7-10 May to get nine days rest for the price of four. This also works for the Spring Bank Holiday on 27 May and Summer Bank Holiday on 26 August.

Get 16 days of vacation using only seven days of paid leave in France

In France, Easter is also a good time for an extended break. Friday 29 March and Monday 1 April are public holidays, so book off 2-5 April to get a nine-day holiday while only using four days of annual leave.

The month of May, however, offers the best prospects for a long break: 1, 8 and 9 May are public holidays, so you can take Saturday 27 April to Sunday 12 May off (16 days) while only using seven days of leave.

Alternatively, you can take a nine-day break (18-26 May) using four days’ leave at Pentecost, as 20 May is a public holiday.

In autumn, you can once again take four days off for nine days of holiday (either 26 October-3 November or 9-17 November), as 1 and 11 November are public holidays.

How to boost your paid leave in Germany

Take four days off over Easter (25-28 March or 2-5 April) in Germany and get a nine-day break thanks to public holidays on 29 and 31 March and 1 April.

As Labor Day (1 May) falls on a Wednesday this year, you can get five days off in a row if you take two days off (29-30 April or 2-3 May).

Take four days off (21-24 May) for a nine-day vacation around Pentecost, as 20 May is a public holiday.

Three in 10 in the EU cannot afford one week annual holiday

Despite having holiday days, affording travel might be an issue. In 2022, almost three in 10 (29 per cent) of people in the EU could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home.

Among the EU members, Romania recorded the highest share of individuals in this situation, with a huge majority (63 per cent) being unable to afford a one-week trip. This proportion was over 40 per cent in four countries: Greece (49 per cent), Bulgaria (44 per cent), Croatia (42 per cent) and Hungary (41 per cent).

Only 10 per cent of people in Sweden were unable to afford a one-week holiday, followed by Finland (12 per cent), the Netherlands and Denmark (both 13 per cent).

It was 22 per cent in Germany, 24 per cent in the UK and 25 per cent in France.

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  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

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A 4-year cruise or a €1 house in Italy: Inside the schemes helping Americans skip Trump’s presidency

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Searches by Americans for moving abroad soared in the 24 hours after the first polls closed, according to Google data.

Following the recent US election result, Google searches for ‘how to move to Europe’ increased by more than 1,000 per cent in some countries.

Searches by Americans for moving to Canada and Australia soared by 1,270 and 820 per cent respectively in the 24 hours after the first polls closed, according to Google data.

The interest in leaving the States has not gone unnoticed by marketing firms.

A residential cruise ship is now offering Americans a four-year ‘escape’ trip while a Sardinian village has relaunched its €1 house scheme.

Cruise company offers four-year escape from Trump

Cruise firm Villa Vie Residences is marketing a four-year round the world trip to Americans looking to skip Donald Trump’s second term as president.

The Tour La Vie programme offers passengers a stay of up to four years onboard while visiting 140 countries – which doesn’t include the US.

The irreverently named packages include a one-year ‘Escape from Reality’ cruise, a two-year ‘Mid-Term Selection’ option, a three-year ‘Everywhere but Home’ cruise, and the four-year ‘Skip Forward’ trip.

Guests would join the Villa Vie Odyssey, a residential cruise ship which set sail from Belfast in September, several months into its voyage.

“We came up with this marketing campaign before we even knew who would win. Regardless of who would have won, you would have half of the population upset,” CEO Mikael Petterson told US news site Newsweek.

“Quite frankly, we don’t have a political view one way or the other. We just wanted to give people who feel threatened to have a way to get out.”

Prices start at a little under $40,000 (€38,000) a year. For those opting for the full four-year escape, single-occupancy cabins start at $256,000 (€243,000) while double-occupancy costs up to $320,000 (€303,000).

The price includes all food and drinks (alcohol only at dinner), WiFi, medical visits, weekly housekeeping service and bi-weekly laundry.

Sardinian village relaunches €1 house scheme for Americans

In rural Sardinia, the village of Ollolai has revived its €1 house scheme, now targeting Americans exhausted by the election.

The homes-for-the-price-of-an-espresso offer has been relaunched for US citizens “worned [sic] out by global politics” and “looking to embrace a more balanced lifestyle”, local authorities write on the village’s website.

“Of course, we can’t specifically mention the name of one US president who just got elected, but we all know that he’s the one from whom many Americans want to get away from now and leave the country,” village mayor Francesco Columbo told US news site CNN.

“We have specifically created this website now to meet US post-elections relocation needs.”

Those needs include slowing down and recharging with Ollolai’s dreamy Mediterranean lifestyle.

“Nestled in pristine nature, surrounded by incredible cuisine, and immersed in a community with ancient traditions in the rare Earth’s Blue Zone, Ollolai is the perfect destination to reconnect, recharge and embrace a new way of life,” the website claims.

Available properties will soon be listed online with prices ranging from €1 for houses needing substantial renovations to €100,000 for those that are ready to live in.

This is not the first time the village in Sardinia has put houses for a pittance on the market. In a bid to halt a steep population decline, Ollolai began selling off abandoned homes in 2018 to people willing to carry out $25,000 (€24,000) of renovations within a three-year timespan.

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

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Catalonia’s holiday rental ban may not be allowed under EU law as Airbnb pushes back

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Catalonia has said they want to rid Barcelona of its 10,000 holiday lets in the next 5 years.

Catalonia’s recent ban on Airbnb-style holiday rentals breaches EU law, according to a complaint filed with the European Commission by an industry group.

The European Holiday Home Association claims that the ban, introduced by Catalonia in June this year, breaches the provision of services directive.

The Spanish region announced that they wanted to rid Barcelona of its 10,000 tourist flat licences over the next five years. The city has not granted new licences since 2014 but this has not helped to stem a housing crisis, with locals saying they can not find places to live at affordable prices.

Why has Barcelona’s Airbnb ban been challenged?

“We are convinced that EU law has not been respected,” Viktorija Molnar, Secretary General of the European Holiday Home Association (EHHA), said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“By submitting the EU complaint, we hope that the European Commission will take a step further and open a formal infringement procedure against Spain,” added Molnar, whose group represents short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and Expedia’s Vrbo.

The move follows legal concerns raised by the European Commission itself that restrictions brought in by the Spanish region were disproportionate to the aim of tackling housing shortages.

EHHA argues that “unjustified, disproportionate and unsuitable” restrictions breach the EU’s Services Directive, which regulates a swathe of activities from hotels to legal advice. They also said that claims about the impact of Airbnb on housing affordability are “politically inflamed”.

The lobby group may have support from the European Commission itself, whose officials wrote to Spanish authorities to protest the law in February according to a document seen by Euronews Travel.

“The Commission services consider that the restrictions laid down in [Catalonia’s] Decree-law 3/2023 are not suitable to attain the objective of fighting housing shortage and are disproportionate to that objective,” the document said.

Spanish authorities could have also considered less swingeing restrictions and hadn’t offered evidence that short-term rentals were responsible for housing market tensions, it added – noting that there were three times as many empty dwellings as tourist rental properties in Catalonia.

Barcelona is just one European holiday destinations trying to find ways to tackle overtourism.

Cities like Venice have banned cruise ships from stopping on their shores, Athens regularly restricts visitor numbers at the famous Acropolis and Amsterdam is moving its red light district out of the city centre to try and clean up its image.

How the European Commission is taking on holiday rentals

Brussels has already taken action to bring the sharing economy within the regulatory fold, offering new rights to platform workers and hiking value-added tax on short-term lets and ridesharing apps such as Uber.

But the issue could prove totemic for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – who has created the first-ever European Commissioner for Housing as part of her second mandate, set to take office within weeks.

She has told Denmark’s Dan Jørgensen to “tackle systemic issues with short-term accommodation rentals”, in a mission letter that handed him the housing brief alongside responsibility for energy policy.

A spokesperson for the Catalan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CORRECTION(20 November, 10:02): corrects spelling of Molnar’s name

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

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Microsoft pitches AI agents that can perform tasks on their own at annual Ignite event

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The move has been criticised by other tech companies who have branded Microsoft as being a “panic mode”.

In opening remarks to a company conference in the United States on Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has set the stage for where the company is taking its artificial intelligence (AI) business.

AI developers are increasingly pitching the next wave of generative AI (GenAI) chatbots as AI “agents” that can do more useful things on people’s behalf.

But the cost of building and running AI tools is so high that more investors are questioning whether the technology’s promise is overblown.

Microsoft said last month that it’s preparing for a world where “every organisation will have a constellation of agents – ranging from simple prompt-and-response to fully autonomous”.

Microsoft elaborated in a blog post Tuesday that such autonomous agents “can operate around the clock to review and approve customer returns or go over shipping invoices to help businesses avoid costly supply-chain errors”.

Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference caters to its big business customers.

Microsoft criticised

The pivot toward so-called “agentic AI” comes as some users are seeing limits to the large language models behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s own Copilot.

Those systems work by predicting the most plausible next word in a sentence and are good at certain writing-based work tasks.

But tech companies have been working to build AI tools that are better at longer-range planning and reasoning so they can access the web or control computers and perform tasks on their own on a user’s behalf.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has criticized Microsoft’s pivot. Salesforce also has its “Agentforce” service that uses AI in sales, marketing, and other tasks.

“Microsoft rebranding Copilot as ‘agents’? That’s panic mode,” Benioff said in a social media post last month. He went on to claim that Microsoft’s flagship AI assistant, called Copilot, is “a flop” that is inaccurate and spills corporate data.

Author

  • Daniela Daecher is a twenty-something bookworm and coffee addict with a passion for geeking out over sci fi, tv, movies, and books. In 2013 she completed her BA in English with a specialization in Linguistics. In 2014 she completed her MA in Linguistics, focusing on the relationship between language and communication in written form. She currently lives in Munich, Germany.

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