In France, the mood towards the bloc is temperamental after President Emmanuel Macron sparked outrage after he sparked outrage by flying a huge EU flag on the Arc de Triomphe for the country's New Year's Eve celebrations. The French leader was forced to take down the flag two days later after Marine Le Pen and other opposition leaders raged against the decision. Junior European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune, who originally said the flag would remain for several days, said it had been taken down as planned. Mr Beaune told France Inter that the flag was going to be taken down this Sunday, we hadn't established an exact time. He dismissed the idea that the government had given in after the far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she would appeal to France's Council of State to remove the EU flag. Ms Le Pen said on Sunday that the government has had to remove the EU flag from the Arc de Triomphe, a beautiful patriotic victory at the beginning of 2022. But Mr Beaune said: We didn't back down, there was no change of plan. I fully assume that France's destiny is in Europe. He said Ms Le Pen and other leaders had got it wrong when they said the EU flag had supplanted the French flag, as the latter is not permanently displayed on the Arc de Triomphe. READ MORE: EU civil war erupts as Brussels reviews funding allocations to Spain.
President Macron had already sparked fury in France over his bid to use the country's rotating EU presidency to advance his election campaign. The French leader was urged to postpone France's EU presidency until after the French presidential election in April to allow a new leader to set their agenda and defend France's priorities at EU level. However, Mr Macron didn't want to delay, sparking the fury of his opponents who believe he will miss out on the chance to influence Brussels for his own election campaign. French MEP Manon Aubry, co-chair of the Left Group in the European Parliament, accused President Macron of using the EU Presidency for his campaign and weakening France's position in the bloc. The French election in chaos as the burden of euro INSIGHT Poland slams gates to Europe SHUT REACTION Brexit LIVE:Truss holds talks with Coveney TODAY LIVE BLOG She said that Macron had the chance of postponing the EU presidency until after the presidential election to allow him to defend his priorities at the level of the EU and to give impetus to his priority issues. What was the effect of austerity reforms on pensions, for example, when they accepted a pittance of a recovery plan three times lower than the amount requested by the Parliament? Why did the EU not produce masks to deal with the Pandemic? Why did they promote a free trade Europe whose failure was illustrated by COVID?