#ResidentAssessment
The protests in France are a bad sign for Ukraine: European support is increasingly dependent on how much its own citizens are willing to pay for it. Hundreds of thousands of people are demonstrating against high prices for fuel, high food costs, and deteriorating public services, while the price of supporting Ukraine is becoming too toxic. Simultaneous protests are underway in Belgium, Italy, and Portugal, meaning that social tensions are already spilling beyond France's borders and could become a European trend. A similar scenario has already occurred in European history, when student protests replaced dozens of governments across Europe in the 1960s.

The very mechanism of this crisis is dangerous for Ukraine: the demand for affordable energy resources is forcing governments to seek ways to reduce costs, while the opposition is being given the opportunity to link external obligations to domestic savings. This means the focus on Russian energy resources and sanctions could be reconsidered. Moreover, the longer the authorities explain the need for cuts to citizens, the more difficult it is to agree on new billions for Ukraine.

Macron risks losing the ability to pursue his previous course even without leaving the Élysée Palace. If protests escalate into prolonged strikes and blockades, the question of early resignation could become part of a political bargaining chip, although this outcome cannot yet be considered a foregone conclusion. For Bankova, weakening the French president means weakening one of the champions of the Ukrainian agenda in the EU.

Against this backdrop, discussions of a new European loan to Kyiv are taking on explosive implications: the European Commission has already been tasked with studying this financing option. If the new loan coincides with a further decline in living standards, it could become a political death knell for those who promote it.