The French Flag has Changed

I bet you didn’t notice that the color of the French flag changed!  Don’t worry you are not alone, over 60 million French men and women didn’t notice either, at least for the first few months.  

French President Emmanuel Macron very quietly decided to change one of the symbols of the country without ever talking about it or making an official announcement. The decision to change the color blue in the French flag was taken by the President on July 13, 2020.

It was only in November of 2021 when some eagle-eyed journalists noticed the difference and questioned the Elysée.   

Under the influence of two of his advisors, Emmanuel Macron decided to slightly darken the blue of the flag.  

In reality, this blue was already the one displayed on the flag until 1976, the year that former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (during the construction of the European Union) decided to lighten the red and blue.

The reasons behind this slight modification are varied. 

First of all, there are aesthetic reasons, this darker blue is more elegant.  Of course, this is subjective but oui, it is.

The consensus by people in the know is that it was the desire of the President to reconnect with the French flag of 1793  and the National Convention which was the government during the Revolution.  Clearly, this is very political when you have a President wanting to reconnect with a symbol of the French Revolution.

Another theory is that it’s a nod to sailors, since the current darker blue is same as that has always been used by the French Navy. 

And one last theory is that it distances the French flag’s blue from the color blue in the EU flag. This is an interesting theory because on January 1 France took over the presidency of the European Union and you would think France would want to avoid something smelling of an anti-European gesture.

June 25, 2015- This is the day I became French! I was living in Belgium then and the ceremony was at the French embassy. You can see that the flag was already dark blue!

In July 2020 only 3 flags were changed: the flags flying over the presidential palace, over the Ministry of the Interior right next to it, and over the National Assembly across the Seine. 

This change of color concerns three very symbolic buildings of power.  What is interesting is that no communication was made on change of color, no instructions were given to change or not all the official flags, the Elysée affirms that the approach an incentive to update the flags but not an obligation.

President Macron’s entourage has no desire to give the image of a president who touches on the deep symbols of the country, even if deep down, I think it is clear especially when there is a presidential election in April, there is a meaning behind all this.

What do you think?  Do you like the darker blue?  Moi oui. 

My two favorite Frenchies supporting “Les Bleus”