A proposal by two lawmakers from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party to make it obligatory for town halls to display a portrait of the French president has sparked a political row.
The portrait issue has been seized upon by Macron’s critics as he travels around France in an attempt to counter accusations of arrogance and haughtiness, amid saucepan banging and street protests against the rise in the pension age.
France’s lower house of parliament passed proposals on Thursday that would require town halls in municipalities with more than 1,500 inhabitants to fly both the French and European flags, as most already do.
But, as part of a series of amendments to the bill, two centrist lawmakers from Macron’s Renaissance party, Denis Masséglia and Nicole Dubré-Chirat, succeeded in adding a provision that all town halls must by law display a presidential portrait.
The amendment referred to portraits of any serving presidents, not specifically Macron, who was re-elected to a second term last year. The proposal will have to be debated in the senate before returning to the lower house.
Town halls across France currently display portraits of serving presidents, but it is a tradition not a legal obligation. Masséglia, a lawmaker in Maine-et-Loire, told parliament: “Town halls are like the house of the French people. So the portrait of the president – whoever it is – should be displayed there, out of respect for the democratic vote.”
The left immediately seized on the proposed amendment to attack Macron’s party. Antoine Léaument from the radical left party, La France Insoumise, accused Macron’s centrists of “a cult of the leader” and called on mayors to take down Macron’s picture as a protest both against the portrait proposal and Macron’s new law raising the minimum eligible pension age from 62 to 64. Another MP on the radical left, Raquel Garrido, accused Macron’s party of wanting to push things through “by force”.
In 2019, a civil disobedience movement by climate protesters resulted in more than 100 framed portraits of Macron being taken down from town halls across the country to highlight what demonstrators described as France’s inaction on the climate emergency. It led to a police crackdown and several court cases for “group theft” of the portraits.
