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+--- Thread: Article France riots spell trouble for Burnham’s Brexit reset (changing fashions) (/thread-21617.html)
France riots spell trouble for Burnham’s Brexit reset (changing fashions) - C C - Oct 19, 2026
RELATED (scivillage): Under-30s set to work in EU again as UK pushes for Brexit reset
SALTY AI SUMMARY: While the establishment surprisingly does acknowledge that a revival of radical left-wing revolutionism is sweeping across France and possibly the continent, it predictably is primarily worried about the other side of populism.
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France riots spell trouble for Burnham’s Brexit reset
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/france-riots-spell-trouble-burnhams-brexit-reset-4837548
EXCERPTS: fter the most violent riots France has known in years, followed by further violence and looting in Paris on Sunday evening, the concern in European capitals, including London, is palpable. [...] Similar unrest has erupted in Belgium and Italy, though the violence there has not reached the same intensity as in France. Is it only a matter of time?
[...] For Britain, the stakes could barely be higher. Should France turn inwards under a far-right president after its elections in April, any attempt to reset relations with the European Union would be considerably harder, complicating Andy Burnham’s ambitions to move closer to the EU. This could also leave Britain more isolated in its support for Ukraine, just as European security faces mounting threats.
[...] Add into the equation the presidential elections due in April 2027 and the recipe for disaster becomes even more alarming. Poll after poll puts far-right candidate Marine Le Pen firmly in the lead, with hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon as her expected rival in the second round.
The prospect of a run-off between the two would pit rival forms of populism against each other. Both promise to “tax the rich”, increase public spending and even lower the retirement age and, for Mélenchon, “cancel French debt held by the European Central Bank”. Both are pro-Russian and both thrive on popular anger and resentment at the existing political order.
Their differences lie mostly in what they consider national identity to be. Le Pen promises law and order while Mélenchon presents himself as the champion of a radical break with “the system” – of which he is a pure product, having entered politics as a senator at the age of 35. Neither offers an easy answer to France’s predicament.
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu and interior minister Laurent Nuñez have pointed to the involvement of radical left groups and organised, quasi-military-style commandos in the weekend’s violence. The rioters targeted prefectures, town halls and police stations while tens of thousands of looters added to the destruction and chaos.
What is happening in France may herald a dark chapter for Europe as a whole, with urban unrest, economic and financial crisis followed by a far-right victory at the ballot box. We have seen elements of this pattern elsewhere in Europe, but France is not Hungary.
As one of the EU’s founding members, and one of its two biggest powers, France could trigger a domino effect across the continent. Germany, too, faces serious political challenges: a surge in nationalism with the rise of the far-right AfD party and an impotent government. It may only be a matter of time before political fragmentation deepens there.
A France governed by the far right would put European and British support for Ukraine under severe strain. Le Pen has already warned that she would limit French assistance to Kyiv and pursue an independent line towards Russia...(MORE - details)