A commentary in the Greek neo-liberal Kathimerini daily, made the point that if Emmanuel Macron loses the April 24 runoff against Marine Le Pen in the French presidential elections, don’t blame the populists but the arrogance and incompetence of the European Union and the ruling Western political class.
Greek commentator Tom Ellis, in an op-ed entitled, “Macron vs. Le Pen and the West’s Shortcomings” writes that while the accepted “narrative is boiling down to a battle against populism, the far-right and xenophobia … things are not so black and white. We’re not dealing with a good vs evil situation. Half the French people are not far-right fascists, even if some polls give Le Pen 46-49% in the runoff, with her winning also being a possibility.” He then asserts that the “equation is obviously more complicated. The existing system of liberal democracies, as embodied by center-right or center-left governments or by coalitions covering a large ideological range, cannot satisfy the needs of the average person. Unemployment, rising inequality, the many dead ends faced by Western societies, have led to reactions—with the French election being the most recent and resounding case in fact—against the way the system operates, at the national and supranational—in this case European—level.
“The anti-systemic wave is huge and is not coming just from the right of the political spectrum, but also from the left.” He then pointed to the strong showing in the April 10, first round by Jean-Luc Mélenchon who “took 22%, narrowly losing second place and the right to run in the second round.”
He then pointed to an Ipsos survey that found “roughly a quarter of the leftist first-round voters will cast their ballot for Le Pen in the second.”
He concluded: “Be it from the right or the left, the question being asked is how democratic, socially responsive, transparent and effective are the governments of EU member-states and the European Union itself. And all this skepticism is not receding at this time of economic hardship, inflation, the pandemic, and a war on European soil…. The EU is in trouble from the incompetence and even arrogance of many leaders, and Macron is at risk of becoming a victim of rising frustration at the system’s failure to respond to the basic needs and demands of advanced Western societies.” (https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1181980/macron-vs-le-pen-and-the-wests-shortcomings/)
