Is France in crisis?

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French drain

By Sam Sifton, NY Times

Oct 7, 2026

It is an autumn of discontent in France. Students are demonstrating and workers are striking. Mariners have blockaded ports to protest surging fuel costs. Financial markets are rattled, and bond yields are soaring. The nation will replace a term-limited President Emmanuel Macron next spring, and its politics are turbulent.

Mark Landler, our Paris bureau chief, puts it well in his reporting:

France suddenly finds itself engulfed by crisis — not a single spasm of unrest, but a cascade of disruption that is roiling city streets, trading floors and public offices across the country. France’s “rentrée,” or “return,” as the French call the back-to-school and back-to-work season, has been anything but orderly.

Why? The proximate cause is student anger over conditions in the nation’s schools. An austere new budget offered by Macron won’t dampen the sentiment — the proposal would cut billions of euros in public spending. But the markets are jittery, too, fearful that France could tumble into an all-out financial crisis. Meanwhile, the far-right candidate for president, Marine Le Pen, could take over the country and break from European Union rules. Le Pen is leading in the race, according to recent polls. It’s a lot!

In the streets

Protesters stood in front of bins and furniture set on fire during a demonstration.

In Paris. Kenzo Tribouillard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

There were more than 40 demonstrations across France yesterday, as labor activists, teachers, parents and university students rallied to support high schoolers who have spent the past two weeks blockading schools. They’re upset about understaffing, overcrowded classrooms and decrepit buildings. One of the protesters in Paris told The Times he was happy that so many adults had joined the protests. “We feel like we’re not alone,” he said.

Another lamented the state of suburban schools. Hers is in the Marais, in the heart of Paris, and she said she was one of the lucky ones. “The buildings are falling apart, their teachers are absent all the time, their classes are overcrowded,” she said. “We have 36 people in our class, and we are among the privileged.”

The government said more than 250,000 people had joined the marches. (One union said it was twice that many.) They were mostly peaceful, though a fire was set in Lyon yesterday and the authorities deployed tear gas on the crowds in Marseille and Paris. Some were suspicious. “The government is pushing them to violence, so that public opinion will turn against them and their demands won’t be heard,” one union member told The Times.

Beyond the schools

A person raises a fist at a police officer, who stands holding a shield.

In Bordeaux. Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The anger in France is not simply about education. The country’s debt stands at around $4 trillion, nearly 120 percent of the value of everything it makes in a year. The cost of servicing that debt will be near $100 billion next year. Add on the costs of health care and pensions for the country’s aging population, as well as increased military spending as France supports the war in Ukraine. Now the folks who watch and run the country sound nervous. Next year’s presidential elections intensify that jumpiness.

“It’s not just a debt crisis or bond-market crisis,” one European political analyst told Mark. “The investors I’m talking to are worrying about an existential political and constitutional crisis. It’s all of these issues coming together in a deeply unhelpful way for whoever wins the presidential election.”

No easy remedy

I tracked Mark down in Paris yesterday and asked him what to make of all of it — the students and the nation’s mood. He told me he spent some time with young people in the suburbs last week and found them genuine and idealistic, mostly well intentioned. He offered a caution as well. This crisis isn’t going away, and when it comes to protests, “the French have a lot of muscle memory.” Again he puts it well:

But there are no easy remedies, certainly not from a cash-strapped, debt-laden French government. As the protests expand, other groups with grievances will be tempted to join in. That could change their mostly peaceful character. The question many here are asking is whether France is on the cusp of something like the yellow-vest movement, which disrupted the country, often violently, between 2018 and 2020.

Now, let’s see what else is happening in the world. Allons.