But what we have witnessed in recent weeks seems to be of a categorically different character. These protests stem from a fundamental collapse of the French social contract: the government is failing to invest effectively in its education system, sends an ever-increasing share of its money to pensioners, relies on an ever-shrinking pool of young workers to pay for them, subjects its people to years of anemic growth, and, crucially, offers no viable path to prosperity and growth, all while facing an affordability problem. In this context, it should come as no surprise that the streets are filled with France’s young: one in five of them is unemployed.
Source: www.cfr.org
