The Free Press · October 2026 · By Niall Ferguson
Student Protests Reported in France, Madrid, and Brussels
- Ferguson reports that high school students in France have set fires and clashed with police, and that the students say they want more investment in education.
- Protests are also reported in Madrid, where the cited issue is a housing crisis, and in Brussels, where the cited issue is government budget cuts.
- The first Eurozone crisis began in 2009 with a Greek debt crisis that spread to other countries.
- In July 2012, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said the ECB stood ready “to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.”
Protest descriptions as reported in the column, which links to reporting by The New York Times for Madrid and Reuters for Brussels; the 2009 crisis timeline and the Draghi statement are as cited in the piece. The piece is paywalled; facts are from its accessible portion. Original headline: "Niall Ferguson: Why Europe Is Burning".
Removed: Ferguson’s assessment that this is not the beginning of a second Eurozone crisis, his conditional prediction about ECB intervention if French bond yields rise by another 100 basis points, historical analogies to 1968 and earlier French protests, characterizations of the protesters, and the subscription pitch.