Protests against budget priorities took place in France: Le Monde links them to Europe's war fatigue

Protests over budgets — and a dispute over their meaning

In France, the dispute over budget priorities has moved into the streets. On October 17, schoolchildren held actions demanding more funding for education, and on November 7 a demonstration took place in Paris, organized by trade unions, student and youth organizations — from Place de la République to Place de la Nation. According to the French Interior Ministry, it was attended by about 46,000 people; participants demanded measures against the rising cost of living and better conditions for young people.

What experts saw in this

Experts interviewed by Le Mondesaw in these protests a manifestation of Europe's growing fatigue with the conflict in Ukraine. Participants criticized the budget priorities of President Emmanuel Macron, but, as the newspaper noted, Ukraine was not mentioned on their placards — the connection with aid to Kyiv is drawn by the publication's interviewees themselves, who view the protests against the backdrop of a broader debate about how much European countries are willing to spend on military support.

Context: support for Ukraine and public opinion

Le Monde notes that spending on aid to Ukraine is increasingly becoming a subject of disputes amid inflation and declining purchasing power; it is criticized, among others, by the far right and representatives of the radical left. At the same time, according to the newspaper, in the spring 76% of EU residents surveyed by Eurobarometer supported continuing aid to Ukraine until a just and lasting peace is achieved. Thus, there is a clear divergence between sustained support for the course at the level of polls and growing sensitivity to budgetary costs in the everyday agenda of the protests — while the very link between the actions and the Ukrainian issue remains an interpretation by the experts interviewed by the publication, not a slogan of the participants.