France reels: France continues to grapple this morning with the fallout of this weekend’s events, when anti-austerity protests spilled over into violent riots across the country. Around 2000 people were arrested and more than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, amid scenes of chaos, burning buildings, and violent clashes in cities from Marseille to Paris to Lyon.
Saturday’s protests started peacefully, with demonstrators calling for more public spending to repair decrepit schools and improve education standards, as well as measures to tackle the rising cost of living. But the marches were hijacked by groups of masked rioters, who started fires, smashed storefronts and built barricades.
Euronews’ France correspondent Estelle Nilsson-Julien was among the journalists targeted by looters on Saturday in central Paris. “The calmer protests earlier in the day descended into complete anarchy,” Estelle told me last night, describing how masked individuals encircled her and attacked her camera operator.
‘Honte et colêre’: In an address to the nation last night, French President Emmanuel Macron said the nation felt shame and anger, as he made a plea for unity.
Picking up the pieces: The wreckage is on the one hand material: trade bodies estimate the damages to be in the hundreds of millions of euros. But this weekend’s events will also likely leave a deep mark on French society and politics, as the country enters what many see as one of its most consequential periods in history ahead of April’s presidential election.
Questions are now being asked about where the political responsibility lies. The government has failed to make sufficient concessions to address the grievances of students, who have been holding demonstrations for weeks. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez handed in his resignation this morning, but his request has been rejected by President Macron.
On Sunday, Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally (RN), the frontrunner to become the next French President, spoke of a “crisis of confidence” and a “threat to democracy”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), has also come under fire from government figures and right-wing leaders, with the centrist presidential candidate Edouard Philippe saying his party carries “considerable responsibility” for the violence of recent days.
Contagion: The scenes seem to have awakened an underlying unease in other parts of Europe, with similar demonstrations over the weekend descending into violence, including in Belgium, Italy and Portugal.
Magyar’s take: Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has linked the riots to immigration levels, saying the “shocking scenes” vindicated his government’s tough migration policies. More from my colleague Sándor Zsiros in our top story below.
Trump berates Zelenskyy: Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did”, after Kyiv launched a major drone attack on an oil terminal in Saint Petersburg over the weekend.
“His (Zelenskyy’s) country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded and/or dead,” Trump also said in a blistering Truth Social post.
Ukraine-US talks continue: The escalation came just after a sign of a possible détente. Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he held talks with US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the next steps in diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war.
Zelenskyy also revealed that Washington had restored intelligence-sharing on incoming Russian ballistic missiles after a three-day interruption. "We are very thankful for this," he told NBC News. "Now it works."
But the Ukrainian leader also painted a dire picture of the relationship with the US in a separate interview with Bloomberg, where he said he believed “steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate" to Russia, and suggested Washington was slowing down Patriot missile deliveries via NATO’s PURL scheme.
Russia continues to pound Ukraine: Russia meanwhile launched successive ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv overnight, damaging a metro station and nearby railway infrastructure. This time, unlike during the previous evening's strikes, residents received advance air-raid warnings.
Moscow’s relentless attacks have turned Kyiv into a "true frontline city", the EU's ambassador to Ukraine, Katarína Mathernová, exclusively told my colleague Sasha Vakulina in an interview, as she described the growing disruption to everyday life in the capital. Watch.
The day after: Meanwhile, Brussels will today begin to reckon with the aftermath of last week’s momentous summit, where EU leaders committed to addressing Ukraine’s request for an additional €70 billion in financial and military support for next year, Jorge Liboreiro, who covered the two-day meeting, writes.
The European Commission has been tasked with presenting options to fund the €70 billion gap, which will come on top of the €90 billion loan that leaders agreed to less than a year ago. It’s painful for leaders to reopen the debate, but Russia’s all-out escalation, aimed at collapsing Ukraine’s economy, has radically changed the equation and ballooned wartime costs.
“At the time when we planned for the €90 billion (loan), we could not foresee what 2027 would look like, but now it is clear that we have a gap of €70 billion that has to be covered,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
What now? For now, issuing a new round of joint debt looks like the easiest and fastest option, though it will be significantly costlier, both financially and politically. Some countries, like Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, prefer to tap into the €210 billion of immobilised Russian assets. But Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever made clear during the summit that his objections still stand.
Other options, such as redeploying EU funds and coordinating bilateral contributions, are much more limited.
Brussels insists the EU won’t be left shouldering the €70 billion alone. But Western allies haven’t stepped up enough, deepening Kyiv’s financial shortfall. It seems that this time, the bloc will have to carry the torch. President Zelenskyy told leaders as much: “This is a realistic amount. And I ask you to find this support.”
Explosive mix: The effort to find the cash will overlap with the bitter negotiations over the next EU budget. The summit laid bare the enormous differences that still exist among capitals, which are sticking to their red lines. The frugals insist larger cuts are needed, but the Friends of Cohesion oppose further reductions. António Costa, the president of the European Council, has taken charge of the process and will present a new compromise text in the coming weeks. Can the funding for Ukraine be agreed in tandem with the budget? Some say it must, others say it shouldn’t.
Magyar links French riots to migration, says ‘shocking scenes’ justify hard line
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has linked the weekend riots in France to immigration levels, saying the “shocking scenes” vindicated his government’s tough migration policies.
“Seeing this senseless destruction and unjustified violence, perhaps it is now clear to everyone why Hungary takes the toughest possible stance on migration,” Magyar wrote on social media on Sunday, alongside a video showing buildings on fire.
He also said that the "overwhelming majority of European countries" want a tougher approach to migration and have "finally woken up".
At a European summit held last week, a group of countries, including Denmark, Italy and Hungary, pushed for stronger language on migration in the conclusions. French President Emmanuel Macron warned against “the stigmatisation” of immigrants and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez praised their positive contribution.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk shared a similar message on Sunday, saying Poland would “not repeat the mistakes of other European countries” on immigration.
My colleague Sándor Zsiros has more.
More from our newsrooms
Wages vs prices: The economic pressures behind Europe's protests. From rising food prices and unaffordable housing to stagnant purchasing power and strained public services, demonstrations across Europe highlight growing frustration over living standards. Angela Barnes has the details.
Can Spain afford its pensions? What to know about the funding debate ahead of the election. This year, Spain has set a new record for its monthly pension bill, at almost €14.5 billion. Its Social Security system, which pays pensions and other benefits, reported its smallest deficit since 2011. How could this play into the electoral campaign ahead of the November 29 vote? Cristian Caraballo explains.
Trump endorses Netanyahu nine days before Israeli election, breaking months of silence. US President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the final stretch of his reelection campaign, after the two leaders’ strategies on Iran and Gaza have diverged. Jeremiah Fisayo-Bambi has more.
We’re also keeping an eye on
- EU employment and social affairs ministers gather in Luxembourg.
- The European Parliament’s plenary session kicks off later this evening.
- European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner is in London for meetings with government representatives.
That’s it for today. Jorge Liboreiro and Sasha Vakulina contributed to this newsletter.