Street protests worsen in France and across Europe

France is “in the eye of the storm,” New Europeans founder Roger Casale told TRT World on Friday 23 October. 

Violence on the streets, borrowing costs above 5% and an election next year with the far right on the rise have come together in what he called “a perfect storm.”

The interview came less than a week after protests against the high cost of living on 17 October. Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully, many of them students who had already been protesting for weeks. In several cities, though, the evening turned violent.

Shops were looted in Paris, the tourist office was set alight in Lyon, and Limoges’s historic town hall was burned. Some 2,400 people were arrested. The government imposed night-time curfews in Paris, Lyon and other cities. Students and trade unions have called for further protests, and anger over housing and living costs is also bringing people onto the streets elsewhere in Europe, from Lisbon to Athens. 

“It’s in a very serious social crisis with violence on the streets,” Roger said. Alongside that, he pointed to a fiscal crisis, with inflation rising and borrowing already very high, and added a third: “a political crisis. With elections next year and the far right on the rise, I think you’ve got a perfect storm.” 

The far right waiting in the wings 

The political crisis is the one with the most at stake. The far-right National Rally has moved quickly to turn the unrest to its advantage. Its president, Jordan Bardella, called Emmanuel Macron’s televised address after the riots cowardly and said the government no longer had the strength to protect French people.

He promised that order would be restored for good if the “silent majority” chose it. Earlier in the month, he had dismissed the student protests as a distraction. The party launched its presidential campaign at its congress in Orléans this weekend. 

This is the danger Roger’s argument points to. If the only response to the protests is curfews and police, the far right can claim that the country is out of control and that only it can restore order. If governments also listen to the peaceful majority and show that politics can change things for young people, that claim loses its force. Restoring order and restoring trust have to go together. 

Protest is legitimate. Violence is not. 

Roger pointed to long-term failures in the housing market and in labour markets, where unemployment among young people is very high. “I think it’s quite normal that young people would protest against that, and also trade unions,” he said, citing the protests in Portugal and Spain.

 “What is abnormal and what is wrong is the violence that we’re seeing in France.” He also noted the violence in Milan, but called France a special case. The government’s first priority must be to regain control of the streets. Its second must be to engage with young people, including through the organisations and trade unions that can give them a voice. 

“European governments have got to build a different relationship with citizens,” Roger said. “The moment has come for a different kind of conversation and a different kind of politics.” 

He stressed that the violent few do not speak for a generation: “Let’s remember there are many young people in France who are engaging constructively and positively. The government’s got to step up and listen to them.” 

A voice between elections 

On the question of trust, Roger was clear: “It’s not the cost of living crisis itself that generates a crisis of trust. It’s how governments respond to that, and the kind of relationship they have with people.” 

Many young people in France, he said, “feel that they can’t participate. They don’t have a voice. They don’t have a future.” Elections alone cannot fix that. “It’s about citizens’ assemblies. It’s about citizens’ panels. It’s about making sure that people have a voice between elections.” 

On what governments can still afford, Roger admitted there is little fiscal room left, but said that is no excuse for doing nothing: “Government can’t sit back and do nothing.” He called for targeted support, with “help with energy prices for low-income families” and “targeted help for young people to find housing and get into work. Those should be the priorities.”