Emmanuel Macron changes colour of French flag; here's what it looks like now

President Emmanuel Macron has switched to using a darker shade of blue on the official French flag, replacing the previous brighter shade. According to The Guardian, Macron’s office introduced the navy blue in July last year, but until now no one appeared to notice the change. The Presidential aides reportedly said that the office has darkened the blue in the French flags to bring the ‘tricolore’ in line with how it looked after the French revolution. 

(Old French flag on left, new one on right. Image credits: @PierreGoaer/Twitter)

The latest move saw flags in the new hue hoisted around the Élysée Palace. According to Europe 1 radio, Macron wanted to bring back the 18th-century navy blue flag, a symbol of the French Revolution. It is to mention that France had introduced a lighter shade of blue on its flag in the 1970s. 

To 'reconnect with symbol of French revolution'

The move had been encouraged by Macron’s operation director, Arnaud Jolens, and adviser Bruno Roger-Petit, with a nudge from the naval officers who at the time made up the Élysée’s military chief of staff. A member of staff from Macron’s administration reportedly informed the reasons for the change, saying that there were aesthetic reasons. But they also added that the “very political” decision was made to “revive a symbol of the French Revolution”. 

The officials told the French media outlet that navy blue was considered “more elegant” but also felt to “reconnect with a symbol of the French revolution”. 

It is to mention that France’s navy and many official buildings have long used navy blue, however, the French later introduced a lighter blue in a bid to match the colour of the European Union flag. But now, as Macron changed the colour, some people have argued that the new look is noticeably different from the EU flag, signalling a rift between France and Europe. 

Presidential aides, on the other hand, have stressed that the new colour is not an anti-EU gesture. They have denied the change marks “opposition to the blue used by the EU flag”. “There is no ‘blue war’, it’s nonsense,” they added. The decision was partly an aesthetic one because the French and European flags flew next to each other in so many locations, the officials explained. Meanwhile, the Élysée Palace has not publicly announced its change in flags, and no orders have been given for other institutions to do the same. The decision was reportedly made on 13 July, 2020. 

(Image: Twitter/AP)