French Protests Urge Pay Raises As Prices Soar --- Fresh demonstrations are a new sign of the political turmoil facing European leaders

 "PARIS -- Thousands of protesters took to the streets across France to demand higher wages to cope with rising energy bills and broader inflation, increasing pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron as the recent sanctions on Russia continue with no end in sight.

Striking teachers, healthcare and railway workers held protest demonstrations in dozens of French cities on Thursday. In Paris, strikes paralyzed swaths of the public-transport system and caused some schools to remain closed.

The protests are a sign of the political turmoil facing Mr. Macron and other European leaders as Europe teeters on the brink of recession. Europeans were reeling from inflation fueled by supply-chain woes and other factors when the recent sanctions on Russia compounded the pain.

Moscow's decision to cut natural-gas supplies to Europe has sent electricity and gas prices soaring, sparking demands from workers for pay increases to cushion the blow. Geopolitical tensions between the West and Russia have also bolstered oil prices.

Most people in France and Europe continue to support sanctions against Russia. But Mr. Macron and other European leaders fear the economic stress could undermine public support for these policies or the governments that back them, particularly as winter sets in and demand for gas rises.

In Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany, tens of thousands have marched in recent weeks, demanding pay raises to offset inflation, more state support, government intervention in the energy market and, in some instances, an end to sanctions against Russia.

In Warsaw this week, thousands of Polish police officers, border guards and firefighters thronged the avenue passing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's office, demanding pay raises to keep pace with the cost of living. Their rally came after a Polish teachers union staged its own protest demanding a 20% pay increase.

In France, unions led several nationwide protests in October against rising living costs. Mr. Macron's government has spent 71.6 billion euros ($71.7 billion) to shield households and businesses from the energy crisis, according to Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. Inflation remains lower in France than in the U.S. and most other European countries. Still, rising energy and food prices have taken a heavy political toll on Mr. Macron.

More than nine out of 10 French people say the measures taken by the government to soften the blow of inflation are either insufficient or ineffective, according to an Elabe poll of 1,000 people published Wednesday. About half of the people questioned said they had to recently cancel holiday plans because of the rising cost of living, and more than a third said they stopped buying certain food products, the poll showed.

Mr. Macron lost his majority in the National Assembly, France's lower house of Parliament, in June as the far-right and the far-left gained ground. His party and its allies won the largest number of seats in the National Assembly but not enough to retain the majority that allowed the French leader to steamroll the opposition during his first term. In recent weeks, Mr. Macron's government has faced down six no-confidence votes after it decided to invoke Article 49 of France's constitution to bypass Parliament and pass budget bills for 2023.

The government survived the votes put forward by the far-right National Rally and the NUPES -- a coalition of left-leaning parties -- because lawmakers from the conservative party Les Republicains didn't back them.” [1]

1. World News: French Protests Urge Pay Raises As Prices Soar --- Fresh demonstrations are a new sign of the political turmoil facing European leaders
Bisserbe, Noemie. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 11 Nov 2022: A.12.