Marine Le Pen Slams Temporary Withdrawal of French Flag From Arc de Triomphe as Insult

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The decision to temporary replace the French flag at the Arc de Triomphe with the flag of the European Union is outrageous and provocative, French right-wing presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen said on Saturday.

"I’m outraged by the decision to replace the French flag under the Arc de Triomphe and over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with the one of the European Union. This provocation offences those who fought for France," Le Pen tweeted.

She was not the only presidential hopeful who expressed a negative point of view on the decision.

Another right-wing French presidential contender, Eric Zemmour, slammed the flag change as an insult, while Valerie Pecresse, the head of the French region of Ile-de-France and candidate from The Republicans party, demanded the return of the flag.

"Presiding over Europe yes, erasing French identity no! I solemnly ask Emmanuel Macron to restore our tricolor flag next to that of Europe under the Arc de Triomphe. We owe it to all our fighters who spilled their blood for it," Pecresse tweeted.

Earlier in the day, France took over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union for the first time since 2008, and French authorities changed the flag at one of the most famous French culture point.

On Saturday, Clement Beaune, secretary of state for European affairs, when interviewed by the French broadcaster BFMTV, explained that the decision to change the flag was temporal, adding that the tricolor would be put back in a few days.

On 1 January, Macron was inaugurated as the president of the Council of the European Union. In his speech in December, Macron outlined his objectives, pledging that France would work toward building a strong and sovereign European Union.