Prime Minister Bayrou's pension reform strategy unraveled as France's largest union CFDT rejected his compromise proposal outright, declaring they would not participate in further negotiations. By midday, Bayrou issued an ultimatum: if social partners "consider it's no longer their time" to negotiate, the government will "decide" unilaterally. This marked the effective collapse of his attempt to extend talks until mid-July.
A severe E.coli outbreak in Aisne expanded to 25 cases, primarily affecting children, with authorities confirming bacterial contamination in multiple butcher shops. The investigation was transferred to a specialized judicial unit as public anxiety mounted in Saint-Quentin.
France braced for what meteorologists termed a potentially "historic" heat wave, with temperatures reaching 42°C expected and orange alerts expanding to fourteen departments. The heat dome settling over the territory represented an intensification of warnings from previous days, with fire risks escalating across southern regions.