“And that’s why we must always articulate respect for people’s willingness, middle-class references, and all the progress that our democracies are making that are welcoming of different cultures, open and cooperative. This is a matter of balance,” he continued. “It is clear that in recent years we have had an increasing pressure on our societies and we are at the point where, in our various countries, there is what I would call a crisis of the middle classes.” Macron’s comments echo President Joe Biden’s broad effort to frame the 21st century global competition as defined by democracies versus autocracies. Such warnings have taken on new weight in recent months as fears of a global recession and threats to democracy flare alongside Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine. Macron won re-election in April with a pitch to voters of a globalized, economically liberal France at the head of a muscular European Union. But the performance of his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen, served as the latest indication that the French public is turning to extremist politicians to express their displeasure with the status quo.
