Macron to meet student groups: Where are France’s protests heading?

Paris, France – President Emmanuel Macron plans to meet with high school student representatives as the country braces for further protests over the weekend.

The meeting on Friday marks the first time the French leader has held talks with the student groups that have been calling for an overhaul of the education system since September.

Students have called for more demonstrations to maintain the pressure while Jean-Didier Berger, the minister delegate to the interior minister, said the police presence on the streets would be increased by 20 percent.

Last weekend, largely peaceful demonstrations gave way to violent riots. Authorities were accused of failing to prepare adequately and are taking no chances before further protests expected on Saturday.

A curfew in Paris will limit movement while protest bans are in place in Marseille and Lyon.

‘We’ve been given promises that were never kept’

High school students have made their demands clear: better-funded schools, more teachers and a greater say in decisions affecting their future.

With protests showing little sign of abating, a government weakened by political deadlock and mounting debt faces a difficult question: What can it do to bring young people off the streets?

“For years, we’ve been given promises that were never kept,” said Soumaya Sarre, an 18-year-old student and a leading figure in the Federation of High School Students from Working-Class Neighbourhoods. “What we want is for promises to be backed by concrete results. We want to see real change in our high schools.”

Since mid-September, high school students have been protesting against teacher shortages; overcrowded classrooms, sometimes with more than 40 students; and dilapidated school buildings.

Their grievances have grown into a nationwide movement at a tense moment for France as it gears up for its presidential election in six months.

“Let’s be clear: Our demands are not all impossible to meet,” said Nathanael Combary, 18, president of the board of directors of the student organisation Renouveau Lyceen.

He identified two priorities: a comprehensive overhaul of Parcoursup, the university admissions system, which many students consider discriminatory, and a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7bn) emergency plan to improve school infrastructure before winter and summer.

Other student organisations and unions are calling for an additional 10 billion euros ($11.2bn) for education, more teachers on permanent rather than precarious contracts and 250,000 additional university places.

“My primary goal is to provide very concrete solutions,” Combary said.

So far, the government has announced 3,000 additional substitute teachers and an online consultation while its 2027 budget allocates an extra 1.1 billion euros ($1.2bn) to national education.

But beyond these practical demands, one message emerged repeatedly in interviews with students: They want to be heard.

“It is clear that this crisis points to one thing: a breakdown in dialogue between the government – and politicians in general – and young people,” Combary said. “We need a government that listens to us and is capable of responding to our demands.”

‘Wealthy family has replaced the welfare state’

Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste is not considering abolishing Parcoursup, calling the idea “pure demagogy”, but he said he was ready for “profound changes”.

After a meeting with student organisations on October 7, the Union etudiante, a national student union federation, said the minister could not give them any guarantees. Another meeting is set for Monday at which the government said it will present a first set of decisions on staffing, teacher replacements and Parcoursup.

Some observers doubted that these measures alone can address the deeper causes of the unrest: a sense of anxiety linked to a diploma that no longer guarantees a job, an ever-increasing cost of living and a sense that the state is not capable any longer of providing services.

“Young people’s prospects depend on the social status and wealth of a family. This is the root cause of these protests, and it can’t be fixed with a few measures, such as improving heating in schools and toilets,” said Jacques Reland, a senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute.

“The wealthy family has replaced the welfare state,” he said.

On top of that, students and unions are asking for a level of support that the government can’t give, even if it wanted to.

On a political level, Macron has a minority in parliament, which makes it impossible to pass any meaningful reforms.

But the biggest obstacle for any concessions to the protesters is finances.

France has long spent on a generous welfare system.

Macron offered a cheque of 10 billion euros ($11.2bn) in tax cuts to quell the ‘yellow vest’ movement, which ripped through France in 2018. A similar response may be more difficult this time.

Public debt is projected to reach 121.7 percent of France’s gross domestic product in 2027, up from 119.3 percent this year, according to the government’s budget bill.

“They are demanding things that the government is not in a position to satisfy unless they increase the deficit, or touch social security –  two aspects that would push people in the streets,” Reland said.