Increasingly retirees confess that they live just enough and that the pension money is no longer enough to cover the basics. After decades of work, many seniors face old age with a mix of frustration and fear: rents are rising, the shopping basket becomes more expensive and purchasing power is reduced month by month. What was previously considered a period of rest after years of work, for many has become an exercise in survival.
In Francethis discomfort has become visible in the words of a retiree from Strasbourg, when she admitted that she can only eat once a day. His testimony, recorded by journalist Vincent Lapierre for his YouTube channel, has gone viral on the networks as a symbol of the impoverishment of pensioners.
“I have been retired for two years, I earn 1,100 euros and half goes to rent,” says the old woman. “I pay the bills, I have a child in my care… How do they want me to manage? Well, allowing me to eat one meal a day. That’s what a Frenchman is given today: one meal a day.”
Retirees rummage through containers to feed themselves
During the interview, Lapierre tells him that he has seen retirees looking for food in the trash. She agrees, without hesitation, that “there are many. Every day, in Strasbourg, you see retirees rummaging through the containers to feed themselves.” And he ends with a phrase full of irony: “That is France, beautiful France.”
The woman explains that her situation is no exception. He denounces that those who retire with low pensions live “in misery” and that the country is leaving behind an entire generation that worked all their lives. “Those who work can eat as they please, but retirement is a misery. We only eat shit, we have nothing to eat,” he laments.
A few months ago, The French Government was studying freezing pensionscut social benefits and eliminate holidays to cover a fiscal hole of 40,000 million euros. A measure that, if confirmed, would further increase the pressure on retirees, who already report that they cannot make ends meet.