French student protests enter third week as budget debate starts

French high school students are set to hit the streets on Tuesday, extending their movement into a third week with no clear response from policymakers to their demands in sight.

A student-led protest organised by the main student and teacher unions is set for this afternoon in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, an event that could gauge if it’s running out of steam. At their peak, last Tuesday, the protests brought more than 250,000 people to the streets across France demanding greater means for education. They sometimes turned violent, as clashes with the police making close to 7 000 arrests.

Yet the government is not in a position to dramatically increase the education ministry budget. With debates starting today at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is trying to get parliamentary backing to sharply restrain overall spending to pare the fiscal shortfall to 5% of economic output in 2027 — the target it missed this year. Opposition groups that have twice toppled prime ministers over budget plans in the last two years are reluctant to compromise, with less than seven months until presidential elections.

Worries about the country’s finances, now centred on the haggling over the budget, are set to drag on through the 2027 presidential election and beyond. The market selloff of recent weeks has already sent borrowing costs soaring to levels not seen in almost a quarter century. On Friday, the risk premium on French 10-year debt over Italy’s hit a record.

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High school students are protesting against a number of issues including understaffing, overcrowding and chaotic class schedules. They continue to ask for more means despite emergency measures announced last week to address some of their concerns.

Surging fuel prices also led to rising concerns about wider unrest, with social media calls to resume this Saturday Yellow Vest-style protests — a grass-roots movement that started in 2018 and later morphed into nationwide demonstrations.

More protests and strikes are already planned for Nov. 5, with labour unions CFDT, CGT and FO asking employees from the public and private sector to mobilise for jobs and higher wages, and against the proposed budget.

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About 57% of the French support the student movement, according to a Cluster 17 poll published on Sunday.

“There is a consensus regarding the decline of the public education system, which means that their demands are generally understood,” said Jean-Yves Dormagen, founder of the Cluster 17 polling company.

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