Town halls across France will be obliged to display both the French and the European flag under newly approved legislation.
The official portrait of the President of the Republic must also be present at all times, law-makers decided.
Many local government buildings in France already display both flags, though the practice has not been mandatory until now.
Amendments to the original proposal mean flags may be hoisted either near town halls or on their rooftops. Municipalities with fewer than 1,500 inhabitants are exempt if the law triggers a “financial burden”.
In addition to the amendment requiring that all town halls hang the portrait of the President of the Republic, law-makers decided the French motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité should also be present somewhere on the facade, while the Declaration of the Rights of Man should be readable somewhere inside.
The changes are the result of a bill pushed through by President Macron on Europe Day, May 9, despite opposition.
“The exemption concerns 70% of French municipalities,” denounced centre-right Republican deputy Philippe Gosselin. The exemption “makes no sense” in a Republic that is “one and indivisible” he said.
“Either the European flag is an important symbol and it is displayed everywhere” or it isn’t, criticised ecologist Jérémie Iordanoff.
One proponent of the bill, Mathieu Lefèvre, said: “Those who have difficulty hiding their discomfort with the star-spangled flag have just as much difficulty hiding their dreams of a disguised Frexit, red for some and brown for others.”
The left-wing populist Insoumis party and the Communists mocked the “diversionary attempt” of a presidential camp trying to turn the page on pension reform with a measure “without any practical use”.
In the hard-right National Rally party, MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy launched an attack against the star-spangled flag, which he said was “no symbol”.
He said: “There are only three colours to which the French bow: blue, white and red”.
Antoine Léaument of the Nupes party said the obligatory portrait resembled a “leadership cult”.
The bill was supported by 130 votes to 109 and must now be considered by the Senate.
All French towns will fly both the 🇪🇺 and the 🇫🇷 flag from now on.
Beautiful gesture of our layered identity as Europeans !
No surprise that extreme right and extreme left voted against. pic.twitter.com/6D2lDXHR6e
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) May 11, 2023
