Saint-Denis of Reunion (AFP)

The cost of living remains one of the main concerns of the Reunion Islanders, nearly a year after the "yellow jackets" crisis that paralyzed the island for three weeks, and while President Emmanuel Macron comes to visit.

List of race in hand, Helen studies carefully the prices in a large area of ​​Possession (west). "It's so expensive," she breathes.

This former secretary of 80 years receives only 350 euros of pension per month. "My husband has 900 euros of retirement, but at the end of the month there is not much money left," she admits.

According to INSEE, the cost of living, for an average Reunion household budget, is 7.1% higher in Reunion than in France. This while Reunion's median income is 30% below the national level (AFD, 2015).

In 2018 prices had even recorded a record inflation of 1.8%. In 2019, the cost of living continued to increase by 0.6%.

In her shopping cart, Hélène will mainly put commodities, rice, oil, a little fish.

According to a survey of Ipsos Indian Ocean quoted by Meeting 1st Monday, some 40% of consumers "have decreased their purchases for fun".

"We were counting our pennies before + yellow vests +, we count them even more now," Kévin irritates. "Life is always so expensive," he adds.

He was on the barricades in Saint-André (east) from November 17, 2018, date of the launch of social mobilization in Reunion as in metropolitan France.

The territory, of which 42% of the population lives below the poverty line and one in four inhabitants is unemployed, has been paralyzed for almost three weeks by roadblocks and often violent clashes between demonstrators and police.

- "The voice of the poor" -

In December 2018, in response to the crisis, the government announced the inclusion of 50 randomly selected citizens in the Observatory of Prices, Margins and Income (OPMR) and the redesign of the Quality Price Shield (BQP). ).

Since these 50 citizens have effectively joined the local and consular elected officials as well as representatives of state services, and the various experts making up the OPMR.

Kevin, the + yellow + vest, is not at all convinced of their effectiveness. "As its name indicates, it is an + observatory +. (...) These citizens drawn by lot have no real power," he exclaims.

He thinks that price regulation requires "laws, reinforced control, and especially the establishment of real competition".

As for the price quality Shield, an already existing device before the yellow vests crisis, it is defined by the state, mass retail and consumer associations. It brings together a list of 109 products. All at "controlled price" for a total of 253 euros.

Emmanuel Macron "does not hear the voice of the poor," laments Patrice Ellama, president of Secours Catholique on the island. "In Reunion, there are those who are precarious while having a job.Poverty has spread to assets," he says.

For Victor, a yellow vest of Saint-Denis, this government "was especially distinguished by its communication actions, but behind that there is nothing concrete".

"That's why today the fight of yellow vests has moved a little," he analyzes. "It is no longer just the purchasing power that concerns us, it is that of the very respect of democracy," he says.

© 2019 AFP