Europe Archive

PARIS—What to make of the Yellow Vests? For a third week in a row, they continue to dominate the news. Televised scenes of pitched street battles between protesters and police on Saturday raised alarm about an “insurrectional atmosphere” unseen in France since May 1968. Reports suggested that French President Emmanuel Macron might declare a state of emergency in response. Instead, in his first sign of retreat since taking office in May 2017, Macron agreed yesterday to suspend the planned fuel tax hike that served as the catalyst for the popular mobilizations that have transfixed, if not exactly paralyzed, the country. […]

Neither the center-left nor the center-right can claim victory in the regional elections that were held in Andalusia, the most populous part of Spain, this weekend. That hasn’t stopped the People’s Party from trying. For decades the only major party on the right, it saw its support fall to 21 percent in Andalusia, down 6 points from 2015 and its lowest vote share in the region in almost 20 years. But because the ruling Socialist Party fell further—down 7 points to 28 percent—there is a good chance the People’s Party will be able to take over the Andalusian government for […]