French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in Brussels on October 2, 2020.
- The French flag now has a darker navy blue instead of the previous bright blue.
- An official said that navy blue “evokes the memory of the heroes who fought in the French Revolution.”
- In a speech in 2018, the logo was made on the flag behind President Emmanuel Macron.
This is such a subtle change that it hasn’t attracted people’s attention in the past three years. But President Emmanuel Macron ordered a change in the colors of the French flag in order to find echoes of the heroism of France’s past.
A keen observer can see that the French red, white and blue tricolor flag flies over the Elysee Palace and is also placed behind Macron in press conferences and speeches. It now has a darker navy blue instead of the previous bright blue.
Navy blue marks a return to tradition-then President Valery Giscard d’Estaing changed the brighter blue to match the color of the European flag in 1976, the latter in Yellow stars are displayed on a blue background.
An unnamed presidential official told AFP on Monday that in the 2018 speech, the flag behind Macron and the flags flying from the Elysee Palace and other presidential buildings from 2020 have changed.
The official said that navy blue “evokes memories of heroes who fought in the French Revolution, the trenches of World War I, and resistance during World War II.”
Journalists Eliot Blondet and Paul Larrouturou revealed this change in the book “Elysee Confidential” published this fall, which finally attracted people’s attention.
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They reported that the initiative came from the head of operations of Elysee Arnaud Jolens, who was interviewed by reporters for their book. The change cost a nominal 5,000 euros.
“During the process of integration with Europe, Giskard changed this blue color for aesthetic reasons, but since then all the flags carried by the president are not true French flags,” Jorens said.
Officials at the Elysée Palace also pointed out that the flag of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris has always been navy blue.
France will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union under the leadership of pro-European Macron on January 1, and he will face a re-election battle in April.
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