Amandine - a forty-year-old mother - and her family suffer from a decline in purchasing power, and with the pandemic continuing for more than two years, her living conditions have become more complicated;

Today, she began to resort to borrowing from her friends and relatives in order to meet the requirements of life, as she points out that the prices reached an unbearable level with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Amandine, 42, told Al Jazeera Net, "I live with two children, and although my salary is respectable compared to many people, in the last four years I have resorted to borrowing from my colleagues and friends, because the salary ends quickly as a result of the many obligations and the high prices and their remarkable rise every day." ".

She adds, "Although I gave up some side expenses and reduced the entertainment budget, and gave up traveling during the spring break, I still could not be satisfied with the same budget, so I am seriously considering selling my car despite my urgent need and my children's need for it."

Amandine, a post office employee, complains that the steady rise in the prices of basic materials, and successive increases in energy and gasoline prices by the government, are not keeping pace with increases in employee wages.

Inflation war

Amandine is one of 5.7 million French government employees whose salaries increased by 3.5% on July 1, according to data from the Ministry of Transformation and Public Service.

This increase in wages comes within the framework of the recent measures taken by the French government to confront the deterioration of the purchasing power of the French citizen and to combat inflation.

These measures went into effect on August 1.

The French parliament voted last week to raise the value of a number of social gains by 4% on the first of last July with a retroactive effect (such as an increase in pensions) during discussions of a bill to support the purchasing power of the French.

The French authorities raised the minimum wage - for the fourth time in less than a year - to counter inflation, and the last assessment of the minimum wage dates back to May 1.

The minimum wage was reassessed and increased by about 2% as of August 1, the net hourly wage increased from 8.58 euros to 8.76 euros, and the full-time worker will receive 1,329 euros (equivalent to 1,355 dollars) per month instead of 1,302 euros ( The equivalent of 1327 dollars).

Amandine sees these increases in wages and measures as nothing more than dust in the eyes;

Because on the ground, the employee and the worker fail to achieve their financial balance, especially with the high taxes and prices of transportation, energy and gas.


unattainable dream

Dr. Ashraf Al-Ayadi - the banking and financial expert and the CEO of the financial consulting company "Partenaires Altavo" in Paris - says that these measures cannot quickly improve the purchasing power of the French citizen;

Because inflation is rising much faster than the pace of the minimum wage increase.

And he adds - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - that "the procedures that took place in Parliament are not consistent with the great and accelerating challenges facing the French citizen, especially the poor and middle classes, many of whom live on social assistance."

He stresses that controlling the prices of fuels, energy and basic materials remains a distant dream for the French government, which cannot control prices;

Because it provided a lot of aid to institutions during the Corona period, and the current deficit levels do not provide a margin for quick, effective and immediate intervention to respond to these increasing demands.

Falcon Arnault, general secretary of the Employed Consumer Consumer Advocacy and Media Association (INDECOSA-CGT), notes that this small increase in the minimum wage is neither sufficient nor successful;

Because it is not commensurate with the high inflation rate in France, which today is 7%.

And he continues, saying - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - "the recent measures are insufficient and temporary, and were taken in a quick reaction to the high rate of inflation, and were not about a careful study and a fundamental approach to the conditions of workers and employees."

The problem today is the ambiguity of future developments, especially at the level of inflation.

There are those who talk about an inflation rate that will reach 10% to 11% by the end of the year.

He added, "This ambiguity and uncertainty is what made the government hesitant and vacillating, and it took some precautionary measures, and did not think of fundamental solutions, as our association demands."


Absence of essential solutions

Despite these repeated attempts by the French government, the latest official figures - published by the National Institute of Statistics in France - show the deterioration of purchasing power and its decline in the first quarter of this year by 1.5% per unit of consumption.

It is also expected to decline by 0.5% in the second quarter.

The figures of the European Institute for Statistics "Eurostat" also show an increase in the unemployment rate in France to 7.4% last March, while the inflation rate jumped to 6.1%, in July, compared to 5.8% last June.

In light of this fluctuation and ambiguity, observers wonder, will the deterioration of purchasing power continue in the future, and could this lead to protests and a social crisis?

Banking and financial expert Dr. Ashraf Al-Ayadi answers this question, stressing that the level of decline will be linked to the ability of the European Central Bank and European governments to control the level of inflation.

At the same time, he stresses that major challenges will be presented in the coming winter, especially if the Ukrainian crisis continues.

He concludes that the issue of the French citizen's recourse to social protests is somewhat excluded at the present time, despite the clear warning messages he gave in the recent elections.

On the other hand, Arnault believes that the option of protests is very possible, especially with renewed calls - via social media - to demonstrate next September.

Which could lead to a social crisis and widespread protests throughout the country.

This is due to the continued deterioration of purchasing power;

Because the government chose easy solutions and did not think of deep fundamental solutions.


Macron is a firefighter

A survey conducted by the IFOP Institute of Statistics from the period showed that 7 out of 10 French people have noticed a deterioration in their purchasing power since the beginning of Macron's term.

While more than one-fifth of the respondents believed that there was no significant change in the improvement of purchasing power.

As a result, purchasing power is a major concern for 82% of households.

In the same context, Al-Ayadi notes that Macron's first term was characterized by the difficult circumstances surrounding it, and therefore he was unable to implement his reform plans for which he was elected, and spent most of the time playing the role of a firefighter, more than he played the role of an economist and politician.