Young people across Europe are taking to the streets due to the increasing cost of living, the deepening housing crisis and the disruptions in the education system.
The protests, stretching from France to Italy, from Spain to the Balkans, are expanding across the continent with mass strikes and street clashes with the police.
The economic downturn and the sense of futurelessness have turned into mass anger among the young generation on the continent. Activists are reacting to restrictions on public spending and the marketization of fundamental rights.
Protests in France broke out at the end of last month, led by high school students, a week after the school year started. Students targeted inadequate teacher numbers, dilapidated classrooms, long school hours and an opaque university admissions system. As the process progressed, rising fuel prices following the US bombardment, which led to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, fueled the general cost of living reactions. The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the Yellow Vest movement, farmers and public workers also joined the students' calls. In just one day, the number of participants approached half a million.
The government announced that 3 thousand contracted teachers would be assigned to reduce tensions, tuition increases would be canceled and oil subsidies would be provided to certain sectors. However, conflicts continued in many cities, especially Paris; A group of demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Louvre Museum. While President Emmanuel Macron described the looting of the streets as "unbearable", Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called for curfews to be imposed in certain areas.
In Spain, the protests were triggered by the death of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who was evicted from her home in Madrid after an investment fund increased her rent by 230 percent, and died two weeks after being hospitalized. Groups demanding a rent freeze and inspection of the room rental market called for a general strike on November 11. According to El Pais newspaper, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's emergency housing bill, which aims to ban evictions until 2030, was rejected by the right-wing and far-right parties in the parliament. Sánchez decided to call early elections on November 29, asking for authority from the voters to pass reforms.
In Portugal, according to official data, housing prices doubled between 2015 and 2024, increasing at a rate approximately twice the EU average. Hundreds of people who set up tents in Rossio Square in Lisbon and Dom João I Square in Porto faced police intervention. Spanish news agency EFE reported that around 40 people were injured during the evacuation in Porto. Demonstrators gathered in Lisbon and other cities stated that wages were eroded by rent prices.
While 100 thousand people marched in Rome upon the call of the unions in Italy, violent clashes were seen in cities such as Milan, Turin and Bologna. While Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said that he had not seen a similar situation in the last decade, at least 141 police officers were injured and 160 people were detained across the country. Shops around Duomo Square in Milan and a bookstore in Turin were looted. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claimed that left-wing groups were trying to legitimize the violence; The main union, CGIL, decided to strike a general strike on 20 November.
According to The Guardian newspaper, the Federation of French-Speaking Students (FEF) in Belgium took to the streets against the budget cut of approximately 500 million euros approved by the Walloon-Brussels Federation. FEF President Lenaïk Dumont said they oppose the reform requiring students to complete certain credits quickly to retain their scholarships. Dumont summarized the situation by saying, "Education is not a privilege, it is a right; access to university should not depend on your borrowing power."
On the other hand, according to European Statistics Office data, youth unemployment under the age of 25 across the EU was measured at 15.4 percent in August. This rate remained well above the 6.1 percent unemployment rate in the general population. On the continent, 24.2 percent of young people aged 15-29 live at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Speaking to El Pais, political scientist Tim Vlandas from Oxford University calls this situation "gerontonomy", stating that the aging population encourages policies that prioritize consumption and pensions. Public opinion research shows that 74 percent of voters under the age of 30 in France do not believe in political representation mechanisms. This rate is 69 percent in Italy and 59 percent in Spain. The European Student Union (ESU) documents that student movements have recently spread rapidly across the continent and mass protests have been held in dozens of countries.
