• The National Assembly examines from Tuesday evening a bill of the Renaissance group to make mandatory the European (and French) flag on the facade of town halls.
  • On the occasion of "Europe Day" on 9 May, this highlighting of the flag of the European Union is very symbolic for the presidential camp.
  • But the elected representatives of the majority also want to set a trap for the members of the Nupes, who never fail to scarf on European issues.

The flag of discord. The National Assembly examines from Tuesday evening a bill of the Renaissance group to make mandatory the European (and French) flag on the facade of town halls. On the occasion of "Europe Day", this wave of the blue starry flag is symbolic but also... very strategic. The Macronists want to set a trap for the elected representatives of the Nupes, while the negotiations on the left for the European elections, scheduled for next year, already look very complicated.

What do the Macronists propose?

If the tricolor flag and that of the European Union are often present on the facades of municipalities, the practice is not mandatory, as it is in public and private schools, colleges and high schools under contract. This text, with "eminently symbolic significance" aims to "reinforce a republican usage" and to "consecrate a practice that is widespread," explained its rapporteur, the macronist Mathieu Lefèvre.

On this anniversary of Robert Schuman's declaration on 9th May 1950 on the pooling of coal and steel, considered as the founding text of European integration, the elected Macronists - fervent Europeans - wanted to mark the occasion. "On 9 May, let us proudly carry the European flag alongside the French flag. It is the symbol of solidarity that unites our continent as never before in history," Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted.



🇪🇺 #9mai | As war rages in Eastern Europe, let us celebrate the European Union that protects us.

On 9 May, let us proudly carry the European flag alongside the French flag.

It is the symbol of the solidarity that unites our continent as never before in history. pic.twitter.com/DuhLiVklHu

— Elisabeth BORNE (@Elisabeth_Borne) May 9, 2023

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Why does this cause discord within the Nupes?

The European issue often awakens tensions and divisions within the left. Especially since the MEP of La France insoumise, Manon Aubry, took her feet in the flag, this Monday, on France Info. Asked about the Renaissance bill, the MEP for La France Insoumise presented the European flag as "a democratic forfeiture", referring to the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution. The text was approved by the Parliament meeting in Congress in 2008 despite its rejection by the French three years earlier.

The little sentence did not fail to strangle several allies of the left, especially among ecologists and socialists. "This flag is above all a symbol of peace on the continent and a symbol of freedom and democracy for some countries, such as Georgia or Ukraine... " whistled David Cormand, MEP EELV. "This formula reveals an unconscious of LFI, where the EU is systematically thought of as a hostile threat that should be ridden," the former boss of the ecologists told 20 Minutes. Symbol of divisions: LFI and the PCF are expected to vote against the text, unlike EELV and the PS.

Why does it come at the worst time for the Nupes?

The Renaissance bill has almost no chance of being voted by the deputies, especially since the Republicans have announced that they would oppose "by a very majority" the text. But the main thing may be elsewhere for walkers. "This law also aims, and we fully assume it, to demonstrate that there are desires of Frexit hidden from the far right and the far left," said the elected Renaissance Mathieu Lefèvre, this Tuesday, at a press conference.

The objective is clear: to awaken the divisions of the left on the European question to derail the already badly embarked project of a common list on the left for the European election of 2024. "This example shows that, unlike the rebels, we have a federalist vision of the European project. This difference of vision cannot be carried together in a European campaign," adds David Cormand.

Manon Aubry tried to extinguish the fire, assuring that MEPs from the different left-wing parties voted in a "common" way on "more than 80%" of texts in the European Parliament. The rebel castigated on Twitter the "operations of gross diversion" of the majority and called on his allies not to fall into the "trap" that was set for them. This Tuesday in the Assembly, the president of the Renaissance group Aurore Bergé seemed rather satisfied with the coup achieved. "I am always surprised that political groups accuse us of playing politics."

  • National Assembly
  • Politics
  • Nupes
  • European Union (EU)
  • European elections
  • Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV)
  • La France Insoumise (LFI)
  • European Parliament