In the words of the editor, ¡°Europe¡¯s high-quality life is becoming more and more burdensome, asking France to know.¡± ¡°On the sudden resignation of French Prime Minister Le Cologne on October 6, the Washington Post that the political crisis in France further highlighted the unsustainability of the European welfare system. Earlier, German Prime Minister Murts and other European officials also issued a warning that the welfare system of the country or Europe is difficult to succeed. The high welfare system is considered an important part of the ¡°European Dream¡± and one of the pillars of the European Union, but because of the high government debt and corporate problems, there is a view that ¡°the sun of European welfare is falling.¡± Many European countries have proposed welfare reform measures, but are facing two difficulties: where the people¡¯s anti-vo

¡°In the years you live, the welfare system will collapse.¡±

On the day of Le Corny's resignation, the Washington Post published an article saying that in France, as public debt soars, credit ratings decline, income stagnates, the prime minister steps down, and the country falls into an ungovernable state, the public is asking two questions: Will the lives of the younger generation be worse than their fathers? If not, who will pay for their comfortable life? The article believes that Le Corney's resignation has made these issues more urgent. It is worth noting that the difficulty of getting the National Assembly to pass the austerity budget was one of the important reasons why Le Corni and his two predecessors, Bayrou and Barnier, stepped down one after another.

It was German Chancellor Merz who issued a similar warning not long ago. According to media reports such as "Deutsche Welle", Mertz bluntly stated on August 23rd that the German welfare system has become financially unsustainable. As of the end of 2024, Germany's total public debt will be approximately 2.51 trillion euros, accounting for approximately 60% of gross domestic product (GDP). It is predicted that by 2030, this proportion will reach 74%.

The same problem has also appeared in many European countries. According to media reports such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), by the end of the first quarter of this year, France's public debt had reached 3.345 trillion euros, equivalent to 114% of GDP. The UK's current total public debt is around £ 2. 9 trillion, equivalent to 96.3% of GDP. According to the US "Political News Network", the total debt of six countries in the European Union exceeds their annual economic output, including France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. Colombato, emeritus professor of economics at the University of Turin, Italy, issued a document in June this year saying that, on average, the debt-to-GDP ratio of EU countries is 81%. Historically, when the government's public debt reaches 60% of GDP, it may get out of control and trigger a crisis, which is the current average ratio of debt to GDP in EU countries with more fiscal prudence such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

"Europe is on the brink of another financial crisis." According to a report by the US "Political News Network", Mertz warned in February this year that because EU governments have too much debt,"the next financial crisis will definitely come, and it will be a sovereign debt crisis. We don't know when it will come, we don't know where it will come from, but it will come."

"If policy is not changed, the welfare system will collapse, not in my lifetime, but in yours," said Belgium's Brussels Times newspaper, saying that Prime Minister De Weever issued the above warning to students at Ghent University in a speech at the university on October 7. He stressed that the economic foundation underpinning European benefits such as pensions and healthcare is no longer sustainable. In November last year, the British Daily Telegraph published an article entitled "Why the Sun of European Welfare Is Setting", saying that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said at that time that unless European countries can reverse decades of relative recession and achieve great success in science and technology like the United States, their weak and uncompetitive economies may face the risk of running out of funds and being unable to fund their huge welfare systems.

According to a recent report by the British Daily Telegraph, in the past 20 years, the growth rate of productivity in the United States is twice that of the euro zone. In the United States, hourly output increased by more than a quarter, while in the euro zone, this figure was less than 13%. At the same time, the burden of pension in Europe is increasing. In Spain, Germany and France, more than a fifth of the population is over 65 years old. In Italy, almost 1/4 people reach this age.

¡°The welfare trap is swallowing the European economy.¡±

The Brussels Times said that Europe's extensive welfare system emerged after World War II and is the middle way between communism and unregulated capitalism. According to National Public Radio, EU countries usually provide free medical care, long-term unemployment support and other benefits to their people. The common belief of these countries is that the state has the responsibility to take care of citizens, which has become a common culture and one of the pillars of the EU, and unites people from more than 20 different countries.

"The welfare trap is devouring the European economy." The British Daily Telegraph recently bluntly stated that Britain is not the only country that can't make ends meet, and its dependence on welfare has also brought devastating blows to France and Germany. Germany's Handelsblatt said that the country's welfare expenditure last year was as high as 1.3 trillion euros, and the social security cost shared by employers and employees increased significantly, coupled with high energy costs, all of which are limiting the competitiveness of enterprises.

According to media reports such as the British "Daily Telegraph", the UK's welfare system is huge and expensive. Its original intention is to establish a "safety net" to ensure that no one falls below the minimum living security line. However, the system has been distorted. Research by the British Taxpayers 'Union shows that about one in 10 people in the country receives personal independence payments. This benefit was originally used to support people with long-term health constraints, but mental health issues such as anxiety and depression are becoming the main reasons for claiming them. If this trend continues, annual spending on health and disability benefits alone will soar to £ 100 billion by 2030. British government data shows that about 11 million people of the country's working-age population aged 16 to 64 are unemployed, of which only 1.67 million are unemployed. The remaining 9.12 million are defined as "economically inactive people." Many of these people are unable to work for "health reasons." The decline in labor has a chain reaction: government tax revenue falls, welfare spending increases, welfare recipients have limited consumption power, and commercial and economic activities are frustrated, which in turn undermines the willingness of companies to hire, thus forming a vicious cycle.

Many European countries have proposed reforms to the welfare system. According to media reports such as the BBC and the Brussels Times, Britain has previously planned to reduce welfare spending by raising the threshold for specific welfare applications to encourage the unemployed to return to the labour market, ¡°allowing Britain to work again.¡± The German Union Party (CDU/CSU) hopes to enter the ¡°autumn of reform¡± with the jointly ruling Social Democratic Party, where citizenship benefits are one of the focus of the reform, which provides social welfare funds to vulnerable groups such as the unemployed, the poor and the disabled. In the future, recipients will be punished harder if they refuse to work or fail to find work. According to German government data, citizenship benefits received a total of approximately 5.4

At the EU level, EU Commission President Von der Leyen had previously hoped to raise taxes on companies earning more than €100 million to fund EU projects and repay debts during the New Crown epidemic. The US Political News Network said the plan had been bluntly opposed by many EU countries. European People's Party MP Homer said the tax "is in contrast to our efforts to strengthen European enterprises' competitiveness, especially medium-sized enterprises". She said that the EU is actively supporting these enterprises through a huge competitiveness fund to promote innovation and strengthen the EU's position as a "attractive global investment centre."

¡°Cutting spending is strengthening right-wing populism.¡±

According to the European Times, the Guardian, the German Times, and other media reports, the German Social Welfare Federation criticized the reforms as undermining social cohesion after Murts called for reforms in citizenship allowances. The German Social Democratic Party has traditionally regarded itself as a defender of the welfare system and is therefore unwilling to support significant cuts in welfare benefits. Tillmer, head of the party¡¯s youth organization, told the German Stuttgart Journal that if the core idea of the reform was just cuts in welfare, then ¡°the Social Democratic Party would not be allowed to step in.¡±

The reform of the British government was strongly opposed by the Labour Party in the process of advancing. In June this year, more than 100 members of the House of Commons of the Labour Party submitted an amendment calling for the suspension of the implementation of the welfare reduction bill, especially against the measures to tighten the eligibility of personal independence payment. Under strong party pressure, Prime Minister Starmer was forced to back down and announced that the newly introduced strict eligibility criteria would only apply to new applicants. This measure greatly weakened the originally expected tightening effect of fiscal expenditure, and put the government in a dilemma in the reform of welfare system.

Although many European governments believe that the reform of the welfare system is urgent, many people think that cutting public expenditure will make their already tight lives even more stretched. The American "Eurasian Review" news network and other media recently said that the monthly living expenses of 10 million pensioners in Germany are less than 1,100 euros, which is below the poverty line. They were told to tighten their belts. Volkeri, a sociologist at a university in Berlin, told the special correspondent of the Global Times in Germany that with multiple crises, welfare cuts have become a common phenomenon in Europe. In the past, even German college students could apply for housing subsidies, as well as various subsidies such as information fees, but now they are basically gone. Hardy, a 57-year-old British writer, has been a die-hard supporter of the Labour Party before, but she told the Guardian that she would no longer support the party in the future. "I'm worried that the Labour government is making unnecessary benefit cuts. People are really suffering." She said some of her disabled friends were devastated when the government announced cuts to personal independence payments.

Many European political forces, social organizations and people believe that taxation should be increased on or rich people to increase government revenues. However, Eurasia Comments News Network says that many governments refuse to tax rich people or companies, and some countries continue to provide aid to Ukraine. The media reminds that extremist movements will flourish when the policies of mainstream political parties worsen the situation of ordinary people. Extreme right-wing parties such as the German Choice Party have gained support, especially in eastern Germany. The message they convey is simple: stop funding foreign wars, restore domestic well-being, and put the Germans first.

Germany's "Frankfurt Review" also said that the government's planned social welfare cuts are strengthening right-wing populism. Fratscher, director of the German Institute for Economic Research, believes that reforms should focus on better coordinating welfare spending and reducing bureaucracy, rather than cutting public spending across the board or stigmatizing affected people, otherwise the reforms may fail and bring more support to far-right parties. A recent study by the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences, a subsidiary of the Hans Berkler Foundation in Germany, also shows that public spending cuts are strengthening right-wing populism: The Alternative Party in Germany has made considerable progress in the 2025 Bundestag elections, especially in areas where people feel left behind by society.