FxWirePro: Future of Eurozone in 2019 looks bleak as ‘Gilet Jaune’ protest rages on in France

‘Gilet Jaune’ or the ‘Yellow Vest’ protest in France has entered its eighth week and after a slowdown over the last two weeks during Christmas, the protest has returned with its full might, which over the past weeks saw thousands of protesters rounded up by riot police, car-bikes-shops being vandalized, and France’s capital Paris in a lockdown mode on every Saturday. In response to the protest, French President Emmanuel Macron has reversed the controversial fuel tax hikes, offered rise in minimum wages, even reduced taxes, which initially saw the protests getting lighter in two weeks around Christmas, but as he announced continuation of reforms and police arrested some of the key protesters, things have taken a turn for the worse.  

Looking at the current situation, it is even hard to imagine that President Macron was being held in high regard by the pro-EU lawmakers at Brussels as the next savior of the EU and the Eurozone, and his election victory was marked as an end of populism in the EU, which has so far resulted in UK voting to move out of the EU, and euro-skeptic parties taking control of governance in Italy.

Things are not looking very bright across the Eurozone at this point as the continent faces one of the most crucial elections of modern times, where people of the European Union, many of whom are agitated over the current governance, economic hardship and inequality, will vote to choose lawmakers in Brussels at the European Parliament.

With economic prospects in dire conditions amid rampant migration thanks to EU’s open border policy, we expect the protests to not only continue but spread across the continent.