France, packed squares in Paris as Fitch lowers outlook to negative

A story that the morning had not yet told: on October 31 France experienced a new day of nationwide protests, with the government deploying 70,000 police and gendarmes according to statements from the French Interior Ministry. The authorized march in Paris set off at 14:12 from porte de Bagnolet, following the route established by the prefecture; by 16:05 the head of the march had reached porte de Charenton, while according to Le Monde many protesters were still along the route. The same outlet also reports an undeclared march of about 200 people in the rue de la Roquette area, near the Bastille.

The demonstrations, Reuters reports, are fueled by anger over the cost of living and by negotiations over the 2027 budget law, in a country with public debt close to 120% of GDP. The French protests have already inspired youth-led demonstrations planned in more than 30 German cities. On the legislative front, the National Assembly approved an amendment introducing a tax of 5.5 cents per gigabyte on streaming data. On the education front, the Union syndicale lycéenne and the Union étudiante have called for blockades of schools and universities starting Tuesday, as well as a new demonstration on November 5.

Added to the tensions in the streets, on the same October 31, is a signal from the financial markets: the agency Fitch confirmed France’s sovereign rating at A+, but lowered the outlook from stable to negative. According to Euronews, the decision cites weaker growth, higher borrowing costs and a larger deficit compared with August’s assessment. The most recent macroeconomic data, released by Insee, indicates a 0.1% drop in French GDP in the third quarter of 2026, following stagnation in the second quarter and a 0.2% decline in the first. Economy Minister Roland Lescure has set a target of bringing the deficit back to 5%. On this point the news comes from a single journalistic source drawing on Insee data and Fitch’s decision; no further independent confirmation is available at the time of publication.

The picture emerging from October 31 ties together two levels of the same crisis: in France’s streets, protest against the cost of living and against the budget bill; in financial markets, a judgment linking that same bill to public finances deemed more fragile than two months ago. The two dimensions share the same reference point, the 2027 budget, under discussion by the French Parliament in these weeks.