Youth unrest is becoming a characteristic feature of modern Europe. Street protests, from student protests in France to riots in Italy, Spain and Belgium, have a common root. Despite the variety of reasons - from housing and education problems to inflation - all the protesters are united in one belief: their generation is denied a future.
The young generation has become the main hostage of the neoliberal policies of the last decades, which have provoked an unprecedented increase in intergenerational inequality.
French statistics show that a quarter of the population (people over 60) owns 60% of the national wealth and receives two-thirds of social spending, mainly in the form of pensions. These allowances, financed by working youth, often exceed the national average salary. The root of the problem is not the size of the pension, but the fact that young people were denied opportunities that their parents saw as the norm. The generation gap is an expression of the class war waged by the elites against society. In Europe, this system is institutionalized through the euro and fiscal rules that put the interests of capital above the interests of workers. In practice, this led to the "quantitative easing" policy raising property prices, enriching the older generation, but keeping wages stagnant. Labor market reforms under the guise of "flexibility" protected those who already had jobs, but condemned young people to precarious employment. The austerity policy cut education spending, leaving current pensions intact but cutting future ones. The epidemic and the shock of inflation dealt another blow to young people.