The blue banner at the twelve stars was installed under the Paris Monument for a few days on the occasion of the opening of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Le Monde with AFP
A “provocation” for Marine Le Pen, an “contempt” for Eric Zemmour: the temporary installation of the European flag under the Arc de Triomphe to greet the beginning of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Pfue ) is criticized by the extreme right and the right on Saturday 1 Er January, Valérie Pécresse consistent an initiative, according to her, to “erase the French identity”.
“This is a symbolic and temporary initiative, which accompanies the January 1, and the beginning of the PFUE”, replied the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, In a statement to the France-Press agency (AFP). The European flag will be removed in “a few days” and the French flag “obviously reinstalled,” he said. At the last French Rotary Presidency of the EU, during the mandate of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, the European and French flags had been suspended side by side under the Arc de Triomphe.
dozens of monuments. Blue adorned
The candidate of the national rally in the presidential election of April 2022, M me Le Pen, has said it “outraged that the French flag has been replaced by that of the European Union under the Arc de Triomphe, above From the tomb of the unknown soldier “, denouncing a” provocation “. The other candidate of the extreme right to the presidential election, Eric Zemmour, also spoke ” outrage “. “Chair Europe yes, erase the French identity No!”, Launched for its part The candidate of Republicans, Valérie Pécresse , who asked “solemnly” in Emmanuel Macron to restore the tricolor flag next to that of Europe.
“It is aberrant to see the right mix everything and run desperately after the sterile polemics of the extreme right,” said Beaune. To mark the beginning of the French Presidency of the EU Council, the 1 January for six months, the Eiffel Tower has been illuminated in blue, color of Europe. Dozens of monuments will also be throughout France during the first week of January.