The flag of the European Union, placed a few days ago under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in connection with the beginning of the French presidency of the European Union, was removed on Sunday after criticism from a number of politicians. According to the TASS correspondent in Paris, neither the European nor the French flag has been raised under the Arch at the moment.
According to political analysts, the national flag flies under the Arc de Triomphe in the most important cases. The last time France held the presidency of the European Union was in 2008, the European flag was placed next to the French one.
The raising of the EU flag under the Arc de Triomphe on 31 December has drawn criticism from French political circles. On Saturday, Marine Le Pen, a member of the National Unity Party, sent a complaint to the State Council of the Republic (the country's Constitutional Court), pointing out the inadmissibility of replacing the French flag with a European one. "This is an attack on the national symbol of our country," she said. "I am outraged that the French flag has been replaced by the European flag under the Arc de Triomphe, above the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. This provocation offends those who fought for France," she said in a statement.
The leader of the capital's Ile de France region, Valerie Pecres, representing the center-right Republican Party, called on French President Emmanuel Macron to return the national flag to its original place. The decision was also criticized by the leader of another right-wing opposition movement, the Reconquista Eric Zemmour, who, like Le Pen and Pecres, is France's presidential candidate in the upcoming elections in April.
French Foreign Minister Clement Bonn stressed on Saturday that "this initiative is symbolic and temporary" and is linked to the start of the French presidency of the EU. He assured that the national tricolor will be returned to its original place in the coming days.
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