Several European governments are facing increasing pressure to contain popular anger, in light of a wave of protests witnessed in countries, including France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, some of which are led by students and young people angry about the decline in the level of education, the high cost of living and the housing crisis.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, while the reasons for the protests vary from one country to another, the common denominator between them is the increasing pressure on young people and families, and the expansion of demands for concrete measures to improve living conditions and public services. Containing this wave remains dependent on the extent of governments’ ability to transform promises into solutions that respond to the demands of the protesters.
What is happening in Europe?
Protests against education in France extend to the livelihood crisis
In France, high school students clashed with police in sometimes violent protests due to long school hours, a shortage of teachers, dilapidated classrooms, and a university admission system that lacks transparency. Students often miss months of school due to failure to compensate for teachers' absences.
Other demonstrators joined student marches to express their dissatisfaction with the rising costs of living, including fuel prices, which were affected after the US bombing led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The General Confederation of Labor, one of the largest unions in France, supported these protests, demanding lower prices, higher pensions, and higher wages.
The housing crisis sparks anger in Spain and Portugal
In Spain, activists took to the streets in September to protest against rising housing prices, after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her home after an investment fund raised her rent by 230 percent. The woman, Maricarmen Abascal, died two weeks after the incident, after being admitted to the hospital.
The protesters are demanding a reduction in rents, a halt to evictions, and a ban on the purchase of real estate by investment funds.
In Portugal, neighboring Spain, hundreds of people gathered in central Lisbon on Saturday, also demanding that the housing crisis and high costs of living be addressed.
According to official data, housing prices in Portugal rose by 124 percent between 2015 and 2024, a pace nearly twice as high as the average increase in the European Union.
High costs of living in Italy and Belgium
Violent clashes broke out in Milan and other Italian cities, on Saturday, during protests against the high costs of living that were initially peaceful, but were soon marred by riots.
According to the Italian news agency ANSA, on Sunday, masked youths, most of them wearing black clothes, smashed the facades and looted the shops and shopping centers surrounding the central Piazza del Duomo square in Milan. The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them, and detained at least 160 people, about 80 percent of whom were minors.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for a meeting with security officials in her office in Rome, today (Monday).
Belgium also witnessed protest movements linked to the high costs of living, coinciding with the start of similar demonstrations in Italy on Saturday.
Protests against corruption and lack of job opportunities in Albania
Protests in Albania against Prime Minister Edi Rama entered their sixth day on Sunday, amid accusations of corruption and demands for job creation and improved quality of education.
The roots of the moves go back to the summer, when a luxury coastal development project, backed by Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, raised widespread objections.
Did these protests lead to any changes?
In France, the government announced that it would provide 3,000 additional substitute teachers to address the shortage of educational personnel, and decided to involve students in the decision-making process within schools.
In addition, the government has backed away from its plans to increase some university registration fees, plans it had included in next year's budget.
In another context, the protests that broke out in mid-September against fuel prices led to the Elysee Palace announcing an increase in gasoline subsidies directed to some industrial sectors.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tried to pass emergency housing legislation aimed at protecting tenants in the real estate market.
The failure to pass this legislation, due to the opposition of right-wing and far-right parties in Parliament, led Sanchez to call for early elections on November 29, justifying this by his need for a “broader progressive majority” to pass new reforms.
