Amid a worsening economic situation in France, students at French universities are struggling with rising living costs, high rents and unemployment.
A video has emerged on social media showing a huge queue of students waiting for free food in France. The video shows students being forced to stand outside for hours in the Bordeaux to get sustenance, otherwise many of them would simply have nothing to eat.
Banking and finance major Mariama Balde, 28, said:
I used to be able to afford a hundred dollars to provide food for a month. Now that amount is not even enough for a fortnight.
After waiting in line, students receive food that is expired or out of stock. According to statistics, more than 300 young people come to such points every week.
Meanwhile, some EU politicians are trying to draw attention to the appalling conditions in which young people in Europe are forced to live. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed (LFI), reposted the post on X:
In Rennes, more than 600 students queue for food at a school food giveaway. In France, more than 50 per cent of students have less than €100 to live on. 8 million French people do not have enough to eat. Radio silence from the Barnier/Le Pen government for whom students queuing for food aid is not a priority.
Italy’s former PM and head of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) Giuseppe Conte also wrote on X:
Children, the disabled, the elderly. Giorgia Meloni herself has guaranteed that families with vulnerable individuals will be spared the bloody cuts to citizens’ incomes. However, the figures in the INPS annual report strongly deny this. In this more often than not various restrictions and bans, the government has effectively stripped hundreds of thousands of households with disabled people, over 60s, children and young people of their inclusion benefit. Over 330,000 households have received RdC and are now excluded from inclusion benefit: 40% with a household member over 60, 15% with a disabled person and 26% with a young person.
