Photo: EPA
Gen Z-led protests are spreading across Europe, including France, Italy, Belgium and Albania, as young people voice anger over the rising cost of living, deteriorating school conditions and alleged government corruption. In Serbia, student demonstrations helped bring about the electoral defeat of longtime leader Aleksandar Vučić, while new protests are planned in Germany this weekend. Reuters examines what is driving young people onto the streets.
Nineteen-year-old Brussels student Maya Gurdell sits at a table writing slogans against her country’s leadership: “If we burn, you burn with us!”
The slogan, from the 2012 film The Hunger Games, has become a symbol of youth movements around the world. It captures the anger, frustration and desire for change behind Gen Z protests across Europe.
From the suburbs of Paris to the squares of Belgrade, thousands have taken to the streets.
Their demands vary but often overlap: frustration over neglected school buildings, limited economic prospects, the high cost of living, corruption, housing problems and a widespread feeling that nobody listens to them.
Some demonstrations have turned violent. In France alone, thousands of shops have reportedly been damaged or looted in recent weeks, while police have used stun grenades and water cannons.
The protests have also produced tangible political consequences. After nearly two years of demonstrations against alleged corruption and growing authoritarianism, Serbia’s student-led protest movement helped secure the electoral defeat of longtime leader Aleksandar Vučić.
“When we woke up, the first thing we felt was undoubtedly relief and freedom,” said Stasa Piletić, a participant in the student protests. “Personally, I feel victorious. I feel we have finally moved from protesting to taking responsibility.”
Twenty-one-year-old Chiara, a student in protest-hit Milan, said it was “extremely important to participate in spontaneous popular movements born out of an explosion of anger that made collective action possible.”
“The greatest damage this ruling class has done to my generation, I think, is that it has taken away even our ability to imagine the future, to dream,” she said.
Italian students face a reality in which schools lack teachers and buildings are deteriorating, she added.
“And all of this comes with the prospect of getting a low-paid job for which we did not study at all, and living in a tiny, overpriced apartment, probably far from our hometown, where we would not want to live in the first place.”
Gen Z-led protests have triggered political upheaval around the world. People born roughly between 1997 and 2012 have made their presence felt in Bangladesh in 2024, Nepal in 2025 and India this year. Europe has now become one of the main centers of this protest wave.
Economic pressure on young people
According to a European Union survey published in 2025, rising prices and the cost of living were a concern for 40% of young people aged 16 to 30.
Of the 92.7 million people in the EU who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2025, the highest risk was recorded among those aged 18 to 24, at 26.3%. The lowest rate was among people aged 65 and older, at 18.8%.
Young people also fear they will have to shoulder the financial burden of older generations, whose members tend to participate more actively in elections.
According to the French economic research institute OFCE, people over 60 account for a quarter of France’s population but own 60% of the country’s wealth.
Pensions are France’s largest category of public spending and are projected to reach 14% of the country’s economic output. This comes amid an aging population and voters’ reluctance to support raising the retirement age or cutting benefits.
However, France’s projected figure remains below the levels in Greece and Italy. According to 2025 OECD data, those countries spend the largest shares of national income on public pensions among OECD members, at around 16% of GDP.
By contrast, Australia, Chile, Iceland, Ireland and South Korea spend less than 4% of GDP on public pensions, according to the OECD.
Young Europeans find common ground
Seventeen-year-old Bilal Narjissi, a student from a suburb north of Paris, has joined protests over what he describes as “horrible” conditions and staff shortages at his school.
“There used to be rats here,” he said.
Last year, students were evacuated after part of the roof collapsed onto the schoolyard. Nobody was injured.
The protests have shown that “Europe’s youth are united,” Narjissi said.
“We all agree on one thing: young people are too often treated like children and not listened to enough.”
A French government report published in October found that pension spending rose by 2.5 percentage points of GDP between 2000 and 2023, while education spending fell by 0.5 percentage points.
The report also found that 32% of the Education Ministry’s budget goes toward pensions, leaving less funding for other needs.
Gurdell has also joined protests calling for better conditions in Belgian schools.
“We tried to act peacefully. Nobody heard us. Only when people started burning rubbish and doing things like that did the media and television cameras pay attention,” she said.
The protests continue to spread. A demonstration is planned in Germany this weekend against the high cost of living, inequality, war and poor school conditions.
Protests spread to Albania
Unrest has also reached Albania, where student demonstrations against Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government have spread from Tirana to other cities. The protests have been fueled by anger over alleged corruption, a lack of jobs and poor educational standards.
“Our prime minister has not listened to us for 130 days,” said 19-year-old architecture student Ksyuke Kurti.
“If you ask a student in Albania, ‘Where do you see your future?’ everyone will answer, ‘Outside this country,’” she said.
Even talented people are likely to be overtaken at home by someone with the right connections, Kurti added.
Serbia’s student movement has achieved what demonstrators in other European capitals can only hope for. But the movement now faces the difficult day-to-day task of governing a country, an area in which neither the students nor their candidates have experience.
Another protest participant, Luka Stojaković, dismissed concerns about their lack of political experience.
“We have already seen where people with political experience have led us.”
Serbia is undergoing a political turning point: a student movement that emerged in protest against official impunity has achieved a decisive electoral result. Yet its victory comes with a paradox: there are no students on its candidate list, and the movement has no single leader.
Can this diverse coalition turn public anger into meaningful reform? And does Vučić’s electoral defeat mark the end of his political influence?
