A ‘generational clash’ is fuelling Europe’s protests
asserted
clash → fuel → protests
Sebastien Ducros, a French data analyst who supports the widespread student protests in his country, has identified an obvious culprit for the lack of government funds for dilapidated schools.
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who → support → schools
“A huge portion of the money is going toward retirees, while many other things are being neglected,” said Ducros, 36.
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Ducros → go → retirees
“I honestly think – even if it feels strange to say – that people like my parents are in a position where they should and could” surrender some of their pension payments, he added, saying that they were about to retire.
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they → think → payments
But Laurent Grinwald, 72, who retired recently after decades as a postal worker, isn’t eager for his pension to be reduced, particularly to pay for other state-funded services.
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pension → retire → services
Especially, he said, as rents and the cost of living have shot up.
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rents → say → living
“We’ve been working all this time,” Grinwald said, “and now, suddenly, the stance is, ‘Well, no, we’re going to start taking a bit more?’”
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we → work → bit
This disagreement embodies a broader question for Europe, one at the heart of the mass antigovernment demonstrations that returned to France on Nov 14, as well as recent protests driven by frustrated young people in countries including Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy and Portugal.
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that → embody → Belgium
As Europeans live longer, should the needs of the young be eclipsed by their parents’ and grandparents’ pensions, routinely the largest items in Europe’s national budgets?
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needs → live → budgets
“It’s a generational clash,” said Jorge Galindo, the director of EsadeEcPol, an independent think tank in Spain, which has some of the most generous pensions in Europe.
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which → ’ → Europe
In much of Europe, spending on a growing population of older people has come at the expense of services and subsidies for young workers whose tax contributions help to fund pensions.
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contributions → spend → pensions
Spiralling defence costs, prompted by American pressure and Russian aggression, have also made it harder for governments to balance their books.
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governments → spiral → books
And high interest rates have driven up the costs of servicing state debt.
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rates → drive → debt
All of that, coupled with rising rents and house prices, has compounded a sense of generational injustice among young people.
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All → couple → people
Only 38% of people aged 15 to 30 think that policymakers consider the long-term consequences of their decisions, according to a recent European Union survey.
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policymakers → age → survey
Only a third believe that today’s young people have the same shot at success as young people 30 years ago did, the survey also found.
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survey → believe → success
The enormous financial burden of pensions – they gobble up around 40% of the spending on social protections in the European Union – has not been lost on European governments.
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they → gobble → governments
Over the past decade, many countries have tried to tinker with pension formulas, trying to cut costs while postponing major political blowback.
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countries → try → blowback
To many older Europeans, pensions are considered the sacrosanct base of the European welfare system.
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pensions → consider → system
Often, they have avoided cutting what each retiree is paid while gradually raising the age at which citizens qualify for those payments – to 67 from 65, for example, or older.
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citizens → avoid → example
Denmark plans to raise it to 70 by 2040.
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Denmark → plan → 2040
Even that approach has had a political cost.
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approach → have → cost
When President Emmanuel Macron of France tried in 2023 to raise France’s retirement age to 64 from 62, it prompted such furious protests that the government eventually froze the measure.
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government → try → measure
But that gave the country a different problem.
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that → give → problem
With one of the highest debt levels in Europe, France says it cannot afford to spend more on education – which has prompted the youth anger spurring the wave of unrest.
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which → say → unrest
On Nov 14, protest marches took place across France for a fifth consecutive weekend.
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marches → take → weekend
They were largely peaceful, despite clashes between black-clad agitators and police in cities including Paris and Lyon.
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They → clothe → Paris
The Interior Ministry said the rallies drew 106,000 protesters, less than in recent weeks.
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rallies → say → weeks
Other countries in Europe have tried other ways of softening the generational competition driving the Continent’s protests.
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countries → try → protests
Britain plans to save billions by slowing the speed at which its pension payments increase over time, while Spain has enlarged its pool of taxpaying workers.
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Spain → plan → workers
Spain chose in 2011 to raise its pension age to 67 in most cases.
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Spain → choose → cases
Then the current left-wing government enlarged the pension bill by ensuring that pension payments would grow in line with inflation, protecting recipients from rising prices but putting an enormous strain on the budget.
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payments → enlarge → budget
To offset those costs, it has bucked the European trend and opened its doors to immigrant labour – more than 1.7 million foreigners have entered the Spanish workforce since 2018.
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foreigners → offset → 2018
Those workers have increased tax revenue, which in turn helps to fund pension contributions, but eventually, experts note, they will age, too.
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they → increase → contributions
Spain will spend 17.3% of its gross domestic product in 2050 on pensions, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – roughly 4 percentage points higher than now.
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Spain → spend → Cooperation
That means the government would then be spending the equivalent in today’s terms of an additional US$67 billion (S$86 billion) every year on pensions.
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government → mean → pensions
It currently spends roughly US$79 billion on education.
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It → spend → education
Despite the competition for resources, many of the young people protesting throughout Europe are loath to blame their elders.
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many → protest → elders
“Honestly,” said Alice Cossa, 22, an Italian student who protested recently in Venice, “we’ve never talked about it.”
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we → say → it
Left-wing demonstrators often say that pensions and other benefits can be funded by taxing the rich and corporations.
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pensions → say → rich
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
