“There was no backsliding”, affirms Clément Beaune, in the program “Political questions” on France Inter Sunday January 2, after the withdrawal of the European flag which flew under the Arc de Triomphe for the start of the French presidency of the EU. “The flag was scheduled to be withdrawn on Sunday”, insisted the Secretary of State for European Affairs. It’s not “a blunder”.
“The European flag was installed where there was nothing”, he continues, “therefore, these people who call themselves patriots, who are shoddy patriots, prefer emptiness to the European flag”. The French flag “figure for major ceremonies”, like that of July 14 or November 11, recalls Clément Beaune.
The Secretary of State for European Affairs thus attacks “Marine Le Pen inspiring Mr. Zemmour inspiring Ms. Pécresse and Mr. Ciotti, since word for word in the press releases, in the tweets, the same words were used by Ms. Pécresse and by the extreme right” corn “they said anything, they lied”. “We have never, never removed the French flag”.
In a press release, Mr. Le Pen announces that he is attacking the European flag under the Arc de Triomphe before the Council of State:
“Emmanuel Macron (…) once again betrayed the duties of his office and once again expressed his arrogant contempt for our History. ” @BFMTV pic.twitter.com/wraRRYVYPq– Anne Saurat-Dubois (@annesaurat) January 1, 2022
“We have no lesson in patriotism to receive from Ms. Le Pen, Mr. Zemmour or Ms. Pécresse who becomes a photocopier of the extreme right day after day, we have no lesson in patriotism to receive from these people – there who do not even know the rules of the Republic “, he adds while the boss of the RN had announced that she was going to appeal to the Council of State to challenge the decision to fly the EU flag under the Arc de Triomphe. After the withdrawal of the flag, she also greeted this Sunday “a beautiful patriotic victory”.
“I fully assume that the fate of France is in Europe, that temporarily and symbolically, the European flag flies, that it lights up the Elysée Palace, that it lights up the Quai d’Orsay, that it lights up our Eiffel Tower, that it illuminates town halls all over France, of all political sensibilities, including the support of Mme Pécresse “, like Gérard Larcher who will illuminate “the Senate in blue”, he retorts. “We are coherent, we take responsibility for Europe” and “This does not take anything away from the French identity. And the patriots in fake who make polemics by daring to summon the memory of the veterans, it is an abject shame”. He considers that Valérie Pécresse, LR candidate for the presidential election, is “accomplice of this slippage of the extreme right” and that it is“a serious political fault”.
Illumination of buildings in blue “will be the most beautiful symbol that we can oppose to the extreme right and a part of the lost right which comes to flatten itself in front of Madame Le Pen and Monsieur Zemmour”.