Dear youth: the French authorities have made concessions to the protesters

The French authorities have made concessions to the protesters against the deplorable state of the education system. This happened after almost three weeks of nationwide protests and clashes with the police. At the end of this week, every lyceum in the country will cancel classes for half a day and allocate time to discuss the requirements of schoolchildren and teachers. The Government of Sebastien Lecorny is also preparing the first solutions designed to solve problems such as the shortage of teachers and the dilapidated state of educational institutions. The protest wave is already on the decline, but the movement has not completely exhausted itself, experts say. It will be difficult for Paris to meet the requirements that require additional funding: the government has almost no available funds, and the budget crisis does not allow it to dramatically increase spending on education.

Three weeks of protests

The unrest in France has not subsided for almost three weeks. The actions began on September 17 in the suburbs of Paris — students of one of the lyceums supported the striking teachers, who demanded to increase school funding and hire the missing staff.

Soon, the movement spread throughout the country. Students, parents and trade union activists joined the protesting schoolchildren and teachers. On October 6, the most massive rally took place, which, according to the country's Interior Ministry, was attended by 266,000 people across the country, of which 56,000 were in Paris. On this day, classes were fully or partially suspended in 891 of the 3.7 thousand French lyceums. At the end of the day, clashes with the police took place in the capital: 488 people were detained, 43 law enforcement officers were injured. In total, over 6.5 thousand people have been detained across the country since September 28.

Participants in the movement demand to increase education costs, hire missing teachers and other school staff, renovate buildings and reduce overcrowded classrooms. A separate point of their program is the reform of the university admission system. The protesters are opposed to the existing mechanisms for selecting applicants and demand the creation of an additional 150,000 places in the higher education system.

The authorities eventually agreed to start discussing these issues. On October 4, Prime Minister Sebastian Lecorn sent a letter to members of the Government with five areas of work, the first decisions on which should be submitted by the end of the month. Starting from October 7, each lyceum is required to allocate half a day to discuss the requirements and problems of schoolchildren. However, this is no longer enough. Leftist forces and large trade unions joined the actions, and youth associations intend to continue the days of national mobilization after October 7.

The French authorities initially underestimated the protests of the students, hoping that the performances would be limited to several lyceums and quickly come to naught, said Sergei Fedorov, a researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Social media helped spread the movement, and the accumulated dissatisfaction with the state of the education system allowed the actions to quickly become nationwide.

Now the protest wave is weakening somewhat, but its potential is far from being exhausted, Fedorov believes. The government has already begun to respond to the demands of the students and mitigate the actions of the police, but the most active participants in the movement advocate the continuation of the actions until the authorities at least partially comply with their demands.

Budget problems in France

It will be difficult for Paris to fulfill the part of the requirements that require additional financing. The French budget deficit in 2026 is expected to reach 5.4% of GDP, and in 2027 the authorities expect to reduce it to only 5%. For this purpose, tens of billions of euros of savings and additional revenues are included in the draft new budget.

At the same time, education remains one of the few items for which expenditures are nominally increasing: in 2027, it is planned to allocate an additional €1.2 billion to it. But the increase is only about 1.7% and is actually being eaten up by inflation.

The French government has practically no free funds to fulfill the demands of the protesters, says Pavel Timofeev, head of the Regional problems and Conflicts Sector at the IMEMO RAS. A significant part of government spending goes on pensions, benefits and other elements of social policy, while attempts to reduce these costs are met with resistance from society and the opposition. At the same time, Paris has to finance industrial modernization, defense, and other major programs.

Moreover, budget formation in France has been extremely difficult over the past few years due to a lack of money and a struggle between departments for funding. For example, the budget for 2026 was implemented only on February 2 of this year, after a series of government resignations. In general, the budget standoff of the last two years has already cost the posts of two prime ministers: Michel Barnier and Francois Bayrou. Lecorny's cabinet managed to pass the budget only after making concessions to the Socialists, including suspending pension reform.

With the budget for 2027, everything can happen again. The Government submitted the draft on October 1, but the Parliament has not yet agreed on it — the discussion in the National Assembly begins on October 13. Lecorny's cabinet does not have a majority, so in order to adopt the document, it will either have to find a compromise with the opposition, or re-use article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the budget to be passed without a vote, but may lead to another vote of no confidence.

And what is happening cannot but influence the presidential campaign that is underway in the country. The left supports the demands of the protesters and criticizes the actions of the police. The right-wingers, on the contrary, emphasize unrest and the need to restore order, Fedorov notes.

The first round of elections will be held on April 18, 2027. Marine Le Pen remains the leader of the polls: she receives 34-36% of the vote. The chairman of the Horizons party and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is gaining up to 22.5%, the founder of the "Unconquered France" Jean-Luc Melenchon — 15-17%.

Therefore, social and economic problems will accompany the French government until the elections, and the room for maneuver will remain limited. To calm the street, Paris will have to increase spending on education, but in a budget crisis, this will require either new borrowing or cuts in other areas. Both can only increase the disputes between the government and the opposition.