French PM Lecornu pledges first measures by end of October as student protests spread

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told the nation in an address on the evening of October 7 (local time) that the government would announce its first measures in response to protesting high school students by the end of the month, Korean outlets reported, citing French media including Le Monde and Euronews. Lecornu said the anger of young people "did not arise without reason" and that no one could be indifferent to the anxiety they express. He said the responsibility of the government and political forces was to restore trust, starting with listening to them. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Lecornu said that over the eight months remaining before the presidential election the government would examine five issues raised by the protesters: replacing absent teachers, improving school facilities, adjusting the school calendar, improving Parcoursup, the university admissions platform, and creating a forum for students to express their views. He said submissions to a consultation platform would also be reviewed. Yonhap reported that the platform, opened by the education minister on October 5, had received more than 40,000 submissions; Kyunghyang Shinmun described tens of thousands of anonymous comments. [ 1 , 2 ]

Responding to calls for more education spending, Lecornu said next year's draft budget sets the national education budget at 64 billion euros, 1.2 billion euros more than the previous year, making it "one of the few ministries whose budget increased". On criticism that police had used excessive force against the students, which Yonhap attributed to the left, he said police had never been ordered to confront high school students and that their mission was above all to protect people, which sometimes required proportionate measures in difficult situations. [ 1 , 2 ]

Lecornu also announced energy measures. He said 10 million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves would be supplied to French distributors; according to Yonhap, he said the diesel had been bought before prices surged, would be supplied at cost and should cut pump prices by 12 to 18 centimes per litre. He said electricity bills should not rise this winter and asked the power utility to mobilise its production capacity to the maximum within safety requirements. Kyunghyang Shinmun, citing Euronews, reported that he also reaffirmed the target of cutting next year's deficit to 5% of GDP. [ 1 , 2 ]

Manuel Bompard, a lawmaker for La France Insoumise (LFI), said the speech did not announce a single concrete measure, and Greens leader Marine Tondelier called it "a strategy to buy time", Yonhap reported. Representatives of high school student groups are seeking a meeting with the prime minister to obtain concrete measures. [ 1 , 2 ]

The protests began on September 21 at a high school in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, spread to the Paris region and became nationwide on September 29, according to Yonhap. On October 6, the Interior Ministry counted 266,000 protesters nationwide, including 56,000 in Paris, while student groups estimated 450,000, including 100,000 in Paris. University students, parents, teachers, civil servants' unions and farmers' groups have joined, and Kyunghyang Shinmun also listed retirees. Newsis photo captions showed police using a water cannon in Rennes on October 6 and said students had been blockading schools for two weeks over teacher shortages, overcrowded classes and ageing buildings. Yonhap said the protests had released built-up anger over austerity and the cost of living driven by rising fuel prices, that another large rally was planned for October 8 and that online posts called for "yellow vest"-style action on October 17. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]