France: mayors take down EU flags

In France, several mayors elected in the recent local elections from the lists of the far-right National Rally (RN) removed the European Union flag from their mayoral offices. The party authorities supported this gesture; he was criticized by the Minister of European Affairs, Benjamin Haddad.

The first to take down the EU flag was the mayor of Harnes in Pas-de-Calais in northern France, Anthony Garenaux-Glinkowski. He did this immediately after taking office. In addition to the EU flag, he also removed the Ukrainian flag from the building.

In Carcassonne in the south of France, famous for its medieval fortifications, newly elected mayor Christophe Barthes posted a video on the X platform in which he recorded himself taking down the EU flag. In Cagnes-sur-Mer, between Nice and Cannes, the mayor's office published a photo of its headquarters on Monday, which shows that the façade no longer has European colors.

In a comment for AFP, Minister Haddad asked whether the mayors would give up EU funds for French farmers and for reindustrialization, or, for example, return allowances from the European Parliament. – This is populism that shows that the National Council has not changed – added Haddad.

The regulations do not oblige mayors to fly the EU flag. In 2023, the lower house of the French Parliament adopted a bill providing for such an obligation in municipalities with over 1,500 inhabitants. However, the Senate has not yet taken up this matter.

In January this year some mayors' offices, mainly in rural areas, removed EU flags from their headquarters to express support for farmers opposing the free trade agreement with the South American Mercosur bloc.

From Paris Anna Wróbel (PAP)

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