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Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever offered his resignation to King Philippe on Monday, November 2, after his five-party coalition failed to agree on the 2027 budget and a roughly €10 billion savings plan through 2029. The palace said the king "is holding his decision in suspense" and would consult the majority parties' leaders from Tuesday; De Wever was due back at the palace on Friday, November 6, after the cutoff. The king warned that "the country cannot afford a prolonged political crisis."

The dispute reportedly pits the francophone center-right MR against the centre-left Vooruit and Les Engagés, according to the Belga news agency as cited by Eunews. Belgium ran a deficit of 5% of GDP last year against the EU's 3% ceiling and is under an EU excessive deficit procedure. Under Belgium's constitution the king can refuse the resignation, keep it pending to give the parties time, or accept it and leave a caretaker government with limited powers. In November 2025, De Wever instead asked for a 50-day extension. Unions have called a national strike for November 23.

Aleksandar Vučić conceded on the night of Serbia's October 25 snap parliamentary election, which he had called in September. "It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won, they will have between 135 and 140 seats and we will have 105," he said, citing a sample count; a majority in the 250-seat parliament is 126. The Student List, picked by the youth-led protest movement and running with no leader or hierarchy, took more than half the vote after most opposition parties stood aside.

The protests began after a renovated railway-station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people, and grew into nearly two years of demonstrations against corruption. Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party has held power since 2012; he kept close ties to Russia while pursuing EU membership talks. A regional analyst told NPR the broad coalition's fissures could show soon after the victory.

Protests across France on October 17 over the cost of living and conditions in schools turned into rioting and looting, with at least 2,400 arrests, NPR reports. Paris imposed curfews in two zones around Place de la République and Les Halles, Lyon renewed a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in its center, and Marseille set one for unaccompanied minors. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told lawmakers the police deployment for new protests planned for Saturday will be "massive," and soldiers from Operation Sentinelle will guard sensitive sites. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said more than 800 people had been sent before prosecutors, and police arrested a suspect in the arson of Limoges' 143-year-old city hall.

French officials blame far-left groups and opportunistic looters; U.S. Vice President JD Vance and President Trump linked the unrest to immigration. The National Assembly is opening an inquiry into the violence and the policing strategy.