France is among the European countries with the highest government spending. The state plays a crucial role ranging from healthcare and pensions to education. However, protests that began over school issues in September 2026 and expanded nationwide by October raise a fundamental question: Why does a country with such high public expenditure still face basic service delivery problems?
The spark occurred on 17 September when staff and students at Saint-Exupéry High School in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, demanded solutions to shortages of personnel and resources. The calls soon spread to other schools, highlighting concerns such as insufficient teachers, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings, unfair schedules, and university admissions systems.
By mid-October, the movement broadened to include demands about cost of living, fuel prices, wages, and pensions, with labor unions and other groups joining. The 17 October protests saw clashes and violence in several cities.
Thus, the French protests have become more than just school strikes. Although different groups have distinct demands, overall they reflect pressures the French government faces: maintaining quality public services, controlling spending, and responding to rising living costs amid growing fiscal constraints.
What should Thailand learn from this situation to avoid budget limitations and inefficiencies becoming burdens future generations must carry?
France’s government spending is high relative to its economy. OECD data shows public expenditure at about 57.2% of GDP in 2025, reflecting a broad state role covering social protection, pensions, healthcare, and education.
However, high spending doesn’t guarantee equal, quality services for all. Outcomes depend on budget allocation methods, management efficiency, and delivery capacity across regions. The student protests reveal a gap between France’s large state role and citizens’ real experiences of teacher shortages, dilapidated school buildings, and insufficient resources.
A major issue in France is that public spending exceeds revenues, leading to ongoing budget deficits. European Commission data indicates France’s deficit was 5.8% of GDP in 2024 and 5.1% in 2025, surpassing the EU’s 3% fiscal discipline threshold.
While deficits don’t mean immediate crisis, sustained shortfalls force the government to borrow more to cover the gap and seek ways to restore fiscal sustainability.
The difficult task is cutting deficits without severely harming public services. Spending cuts may delay investments, reduce staff, or revise welfare benefits, while tax increases risk burdening households and businesses. Thus, calls to add teachers and improve schools highlight tensions between fiscal control and public expectations for sufficient basic service investment.
Continued deficits increase public debt. European Commission figures show France’s debt at about 115.6% of GDP in 2025, expected to rise to 118.1% in 2026. Interest costs are also rising, projected to increase from 2.2% of GDP in 2025 to 2.6% in 2026.
With growing debt and borrowing costs, the government’s budget allocation becomes more constrained, as revenue must cover interest payments and debt management instead of fully funding public services or new investments.
However, high debt doesn’t automatically mean education budgets must be cut. The real impact depends on policy decisions, government revenues, and borrowing costs at any given time.
The question is how France can maintain quality public services and invest in the future without letting debt become a barrier for coming generations.
Tensions between the French state and citizens extend beyond schools, as seen with the 2018 Yellow Vest protests sparked mainly by fuel tax hikes amid concerns over living costs and purchasing power.
This case shows that tax policies designed for environmental goals or revenue can unevenly affect citizens, especially those reliant on cars without viable alternatives.
The issue includes who bears the costs, who benefits, and whether the state adequately supports those affected. When people face burdens from living costs, taxes, and worries about service quality, trust in government can erode—even with high welfare spending.
Pensions are a major welfare state expense in France and highlight the difficulty of balancing fiscal sustainability with public expectations.
In 2023, the government pushed reforms to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. This led to large protests and strikes, as many viewed longer working years as an added burden infringing on expected welfare rights.
From a fiscal perspective, reform aims to manage long-term pension costs amid an aging population requiring careful planning for elderly-related expenditures. But for citizens, such changes directly affect lives and retirement plans, so decisions cannot rely solely on economic figures.
The challenge is designing reforms that are balanced, fair, and socially accepted. If people feel they bear excessive costs without sufficient explanation or support, fiscal fixes may provoke social and political conflict.
Although Thailand’s economy, tax system, and welfare differ from France’s, this case raises a universal question for public administration: How to ensure tax revenues produce quality services without creating unsustainable fiscal burdens?
There are at least four lessons for Thailand.
1. Measure results by service quality, not just budget size Increasing budgets alone doesn’t guarantee problems will end. The state should monitor outcomes clearly—such as whether schools have enough teachers, how many class cancellations occur, and if building repair funds effectively solve issues.
2. Allocate resources based on needs Schools, hospitals, and communities face different challenges. Fair budget distribution doesn’t mean equal funding everywhere but ensuring high-need areas receive sufficient resources.
3. Maintain fiscal discipline without sacrificing opportunities for future generations Controlling spending is necessary amid fiscal limits, but distinguish between inefficient expenses and investments that boost productivity—such as education, skill development, and infrastructure. Saving today may cost more long-term if it limits youth development.
4. Ensure accountability and budget transparency With multiple agencies involved, the state should clarify responsibilities: who manages budgets, who reports to citizens, and provide open data showing how tax money is used and what results it achieves.
France also faces other challenges like slower economic growth and political pressures. Ultimately, President Emmanuel Macron confronts the difficult task of balancing deficit and debt reduction with maintaining quality public services while easing social and political tensions.
What remains to be seen is whether Macron’s government can transform demands into budget-backed measures with verifiable results. Will protests trigger management and resource allocation reforms, or end with short-term fixes while structural constraints persist?
France’s case warns that sustainable welfare states depend not only on large budgets but adequate revenues, efficient resource allocation, and services that truly meet citizens’ needs. Fiscal discipline should not justify cutting vital investments for the future, because if children lack educational opportunities and youth lack essential skills, long-term costs may outweigh today’s savings.
For Thailand, the key question is how the government and related agencies can ensure tax revenues deliver worthwhile outcomes while preserving fiscal sustainability without shifting today’s decisions’ burdens to future generations.
Source information DW , BBC , Aljazeera , Yahoo Finance ,Firstpost
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