EU now sliding toward becoming military bloc — Russian Federation Council speaker

TURKMENBASY, Turkmenistan, October 7. /TASS/. The European Union is becoming a military bloc today despite having been created as a single economic community, and people in EU countries are dissatisfied with this, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told reporters, commenting on growing protest activity in a number of EU countries.

She said people are taking to the streets "out of desperation," protesting against a European bureaucracy that has "practically deprived European states of their sovereignty." People are protesting because their politicians "are not fighting for the national interests of their countries" but addressing geopolitical problems "invented by someone."

"People are also dissatisfied with the ongoing militarization of Europe," she said, citing German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's public statement that he does not care what the German people think. She called these "very alarming trends," adding that abandoning cheap hydrocarbons brought about this situation, which is "a road to nowhere, a dead end."

Earlier, protests by high school students began in the Paris region of Ile-de-France and spread across France against overloaded schedules, teacher shortages, and other education problems. In some places, they escalated into riots and clashes with police, with nearly 2,000 people detained and 1,800 in custody.

Protests also took place in various Spanish cities amid the housing crisis. On September 26, a major demonstration was held in Madrid following the eviction of an elderly woman, forced to leave her rented home after 70 years. Hundreds set up a tent camp in the capital's central square. It was later reported the woman would be able to return home after reaching an agreement with the property owner. Similar protests were subsequently organized in other cities.