The date of the examination of this text, presented by the group of the presidential party Renaissance, coincides with the anniversary of Robert Schuman's declaration on 9th May 1950 on the pooling of coal and steel, considered to be the founding text of European integration.

On Twitter, Emmanuel Macron recalled that the European Union "protects from crises". "I am proud to be at the head of a majority that is the only resolutely pro-European political family," Elisabeth Borne told MEPs.

An enthusiasm far from the cold reception received in the Assembly by the bill on flags. The first debates were cut short last week, with the adoption in committee of amendments to delete its single article, which had been tabled by La France Insoumise (LFI) and the National Rally (RN).

In addition to the hostility of the opposition, the text had met with the reluctance of the Modem deputies, who abstained at the time of the vote, to the great displeasure of their allies in the presidential majority.

"Political text"

Renaissance hopes that this setback will not be repeated in the hemicycle for this text with "eminently symbolic significance", which aims to "reinforce a republican use" and to "consecrate a practice that is widespread", pleads its rapporteur, the Macronist deputy Mathieu Lefèvre.

"It will be a vote that will decide between those who are in favour of continuing European integration and those who have Europe and the flag ashamed," he told reporters on Tuesday.

It is in the name of their European commitment that the socialist and ecologist groups in the Assembly indicated on Tuesday that they would vote in favour of the text. While deploring an "opportunistic" initiative, according to PS MP Christine Pires-Beaune, and "not far from a political text" for the ecologist Jérémie Iordanoff.

French MP Christine Pires-Beaune (2nd to left) at the National Assembly in Paris, February 11, 2020 © Philippe LOPEZ / AFP/Archives

"We continue to think that this text was not useful," said MP Modem Erwan Balanant, while believing that his colleagues present "will probably vote for the text".

On the LR side, the vote against seems certain: "I have no problem with the European flag, but Europe is a choice not an obligation," argued the leader of the group in the Assembly, Olivier Marleix.

European elections on the horizon

This debate on flags gave everyone the opportunity to position themselves one year before a European election that will open the second part of Emmanuel Macron's five-year term.

On the left, LFI MEP Manon Aubry sparked controversy on Monday by presenting the European flag as "a democratic forfeiture", alluding to the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution, rejected by the people, but whose substance was then approved by the National Assembly.

A supporter of an agreement for a single list of left-wing parties in the European elections, as in last year's legislative elections, she was attacked by her allies.

LFI MEP Manon Aubry in Paris, February 22, 2023 © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP/Archives

"No, Europe is neither THE problem nor a forfeiture!" said Green MEP Yannick Jadot, whose party wants to present its own list.

MEP Raphaël Glucksmann (Place Publique), who had led a joint list between his small party and the Socialist Party in the 2019 European elections, seized the opportunity to reject an alliance with the Insoumis. "This European flag is a symbol of freedom," he said on France 2.

In an article in Le Monde, the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, believes that "Europe is not essentially liberal, it is a space still under construction." And he adds that it is necessary to work to "change paradigms" without "refusing compromises".

Marine Le Pen, whose party came out ahead in 2019 with 23.34% of the vote ahead of Renaissance (22.42%), denounced on Sud Radio an EU that decides "more and more things", castigating "injunctions from Brussels more and more deleterious and deadly", especially in the field of immigration.

A subject also addressed by the president of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti, who said on France Inter that national law must "take precedence" in terms of migration over any European provision.

© 2023 AFP