00:00But now from France to Italy, Portugal to Greece, this autumn of discontent is overshadowing the European Parliament's plenary session
00:07this week in Strasbourg.
00:09Some protesters even rallied outside the building itself.
00:12For more, we can head over now to the Parliament and bring in Jean-Marc Germain, a French socialist MEP.
00:18Good morning, Monsieur Germain. Thank you so much for being with us.
00:21So, town halls burned down, troops on the ground. How did it come to this?
00:27Well, I mean, we have, and everybody has to understand that at the beginning, and the root of it is
00:34a political protest for two very different reasons.
00:38One is the situation of students, and there is a huge inequality with regard to the possibility of success with
00:46school system in France,
00:48and the other with a high price and the cost of living.
00:53So, this has to be treated. And second is the way public order is maintained in France.
00:59There was a change of the way doing it, and it doesn't function, and it allows rioters to destroy shops
01:08and public buildings.
01:10So, these two things have to change. You have to tackle and to change public order, starting with twice more
01:16policemen,
01:17and also to tackle without delay the social issues.
01:21But this issue of the policemen, the police are furious. They're suing the state. This is huge.
01:30Yes, it's huge. But it was done already. If you look at the Olympic Games, there was no problems,
01:36because there were enough policemen to ensure public order.
01:41And public order starts to allow the protesters to protest peacefully, and also to make sure that shop owner would
01:51have no trouble on Sunday.
01:54So, really, it's a big failure of the government, but it has not to happen again on Saturdays, and any
02:03measures have to be taken.
02:06It's key for France to stay credible at international level, and to ensure people that we still live in a
02:15country where public order is holding.
02:18And that is the issue here. You mentioned at the start the inequality. Is France now the sick man of
02:23Europe?
02:27I won't say that, because the same problem arises on all the countries. But now there is a crisis in
02:35France.
02:35And for me, the first thing to do is to have an immediate decision, because if there are talks and
02:44talks and talks that last forever, we will have again the same situation reproduced.
02:49And should Macron resign, do you think?
02:50What I'm calling for is to... I think that we have to abolish this algorithm that makes the impression for
03:02young people that a machine is going to decide their life.
03:08And so, let's abolish this Parcoursup algorithm. Let's rebuild a system for scholarships to decide how they go and which
03:19kind of studies they decide to build their life.
03:22And second is to tackle the issue of cost of life, starting with price of energy. It's an urgent measure
03:30that we need.
03:31And a final question, just a brief answer. Should Emmanuel Macron resign?
03:39No, I mean, there are elections in six months from now. So, it's elections that have to solve this issue.
03:46The candidates are going to make some proposals. And then the people of France is going to decide its future.
03:54But still, there will be protests. And we have also... And we cannot wait for the next election.
04:00So, the government, starting with the presidential front, has to tackle this issue.
04:06It's also the condition for peaceful and a good election process.
04:11OK. An election that we very closely watched from Brussels, of course, and beyond.
04:15Jean-Marc Germain, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
04:18Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
04:19Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
04:21Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
04:22Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
04:22Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
