Charles Guyard, edited by Yanis Darras 2:27 p.m., February 20, 2022, modified at 2:27 p.m., February 20, 2022

Two months before the first round of the presidential election, the "A la Bretonne" collective has decided to unfurl the largest Breton flag in the world in front of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes.

Objective for the activists, to obtain in the coming months a referendum on the question of the attachment of the Loire-Atlantique department to Brittany.

What if Loire-Atlantique, currently attached to the Pays de la Loire region, did not rather belong to Brittany?

This is what the collective "A la Bretonne!"

who decided this Sunday to deploy "the largest" existing Breton flag in front of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, in Nantes.

With its "46 meters long, 31 wide and its 1400 m2" of surface, as the collective specifies, this giant flag must challenge the candidates for the presidential election to put an end to the debate which has taken place in the department for decades. 

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The activists demand the possibility for the inhabitants of the department to vote on the question to decide whether or not they will belong to Brittany in the future.

A question already decided by the town hall of Nantes, which created a delegation for Breton affairs during the last municipal elections. 

"It's up to the citizens to decide"

“The town hall of Nantes has a very clear position, it is that we want to respond to this citizen request which was expressed in 2018 through a petition of 105,000 citizens of Loire-Atlantique. There is a consensus , it is that we must allow the citizens to decide", underlines Florian Le Teuff, the assistant for Breton affairs. 

Only the future President of the Republic will nevertheless be able to decide on the organization of such a referendum.

And if this first attempt two months before the election does not achieve its goal, some members are ready to see things bigger.

"I will go around the world with my Breton flag and my boat", laughingly warns Bernard, an early activist.