France Faces Deep Political and Fiscal Crisis Amid Calls for Social Protection Reform

France is currently grappling with a profound political crisis marked by an accelerating national decline and persistent fiscal challenges. According to Bruno Chrétien, president of the Institut de la Protection sociale, the country has failed to maintain a balanced budget for over fifty years, with deficits stubbornly exceeding 5%, resulting in heavy tax burdens for citizens and businesses. The political class remains preoccupied with secondary issues like the retirement age, neglecting broader concerns such as youth welfare, vulnerable populations, and industrial competitiveness. Chrétien highlights the collapse of several key sectors including education, food sovereignty, healthcare supply, and public security, which are compounded by immigration mismanagement. He argues that decision-making has become excessively centralized within the state since the 1995 Juppé Plan, leading to dissatisfaction with the current social protection model. To prevent financial disaster, he advocates for a major governance overhaul that empowers social partners to manage pensions and health insurance, a shift away from state-centric policies previously promoted by Emmanuel Macron. Meanwhile, educational inequalities remain a pressing concern, as teachers from the La Dullague and Lucie-Aubrac colleges in Béziers mobilize to have their schools reclassified as REP + to better support disadvantaged students. Political groups like the Printemps de Béziers and the PCF back their demand for immediate inclusion of these colleges into the REP + system by 2026, criticizing the outdated educational priority map and insufficient temporary measures. On November 5, several educators will present their case directly to the Ministry of National Education in Paris, emphasizing the critical need for resources to improve educational outcomes in impoverished neighborhoods. This combination of fiscal strain, political misalignment, and social disparities underscores a complex crisis confronting France’s governance and public policy institutions, signaling urgent calls for reform and targeted investment.