The debate promises to be tense this Tuesday in the hemicycle of the National Assembly on the proposal of the Renaissance group to make it compulsory to display French and European flags on the pediment of all town halls in the country.
Should the French and European flags be made compulsory on the facade of town halls? The National Assembly must decide this Tuesday at the end of the day on this proposal from the Renaissance group, contested by the opposition, but also within the majority.
The first debates were cut short last week on this text, with the adoption in committee of amendments to delete its sole article, which had been tabled by La France Insoumise (LFI) and the National Rally (RN).
In addition to the hostility of the opposition, the bill also came up against the reluctance of Modem deputies, who abstained at the time of the vote, to the great displeasure of their allies in the presidential majority.
Renaissance hopes that this setback will not be repeated in the hemicycle for this text with “eminently symbolic significance”, which aims to “consolidate a republican use” and to “consecrate a practice which is widespread”, pleads its rapporteur, the deputy macronist Mathieu Lefèvre.
Regarding the European flag, the MP for Val-de-Marne defends the importance of “remembering the values to which we are attached”, in the context of Brexit and the war in Ukraine.
The date of the examination of the text is itself symbolic: the “Day of Europe” is celebrated on Tuesday to commemorate the declaration of Robert Schuman on May 9, 1950, considered as the founding text of European construction. But the oppositions criticized in committee the “uselessness” of the text.
“There may be something more urgent than that!”
Antoine Léaument (LFI) castigated an attempt to divert the pension crisis. “As you no longer know what text to pass to turn the page, you bury us under texts without consistency and without interest”, he launched, judging the measure “contrary to the principle of the free administration of the communes”.
MP RN Thomas Ménagé, whose party disputes the relevance of the European symbol, also criticized a “new useless obligation”.
“There may be more urgent than that!”, had also launched the deputy LR Philippe Gosselin, while others were worried about the cost for certain small municipalities.
Within the majority, Elodie Jacquier-Laforge (MoDem) recalled “the attachment to Europe” of her training. But she also wondered about the usefulness of a text which “does not respond to the concerns of our compatriots”.
Currently, the only obligation in terms of flags is contained in the Education Code: it imposes an obligation to affix the tricolor and European flags on the facade of schools and public and private secondary education establishments under contract.
