Europe's cost-of-living crisis fuels protests from Italy to Spain

Social unrest is spreading across Europe as rising energy prices and a housing crisis fuel public anger, with Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal seeing growing protests. Italians are called to a general strike on November 20, with similar action planned for November 11 in Spain and Portugal. The European Commission broke its usual silence on member states' domestic affairs on Monday, condemning the looting during French protests as "unacceptable" while reminding Paris that peaceful protest rights "must be protected." The European Parliament's right-wing groups politicized the issue with a controversial debate titled "France, Italy, Belgium, antidemocratic violence and destruction by far-left groups." The unrest comes ahead of high-stakes elections in Spain, France, Italy, Poland, and Greece, with far-right parties rising. EU leaders discussed lowering citizens' energy bills at their October 15 summit, mindful of the 2018 "yellow vests" movement that swept France.