In a video uploaded to his social networks, Emmanuel Macron shared the telephone exchange he had with Lula, winner of the Brazilian presidential elections on Sunday against Jair Bolsonaro. During this brief excerpt, the President of the Republic is sitting at his desk. Behind him, the European flag. The angle from which the video is recorded does not allow to distinguish a French flag.
“Out of Reach, Surely”
Something to make Marine Le Pen react. “Mr. President, where is the French flag that you must treasure?” she first pretended to wonder, on Twitter. Before responding immediately:
“Out of reach without a doubt, like national interests that have been absent from his mind for a long time.”
The leader of the deputies of the National Group in the Assembly also criticizes the “carefree tone” with which Emmanuel Macron addresses Lula, whom he knows.
“Ah, hello Lula! How are you President? Congratulations!” The French head of state launches in particular at the beginning of their conversation.
“Ridiculous”
Florian Philippot, former number two of the triple presidential candidacy, is the first to come out of nowhere this Tuesday morning about this alleged “absence” of a French flag in the presidential office.
“Has he completely removed the French flag now? He’s going completely crazy!” the Les Patriotes party boss tweeted.
In a photo published this Tuesday morning by Elysée on Twitter, we can see the entire room where Emmanuel Macron was during his phone call with Lula. The French and European flags appear on either side of a mirror.
The sequence recalls another: on January 1, when France assumed the presidency of the European Union, the European flag flew under the Arc de Triomphe. But not the French flag. The right and the extreme right had risen up, seeing in it a symbolic attachment to French sovereignty.
The government had denounced a “ridiculous” controversy. “The device is in place for a few days, with the illuminations, and the French flag will obviously be reinstalled afterwards, without the European flag,” explained Clément Beaune, then Secretary of State in charge of European Affairs.
Source: BFM TV
