Newly elected far-right mayor of Carcassonne Christophe Barthès poses in the town hall in Carcassonne, southern France, on March 29, 2026. VALENTINE CHAPUIS / AFP
A number of recently elected far-right mayors have taken down European Union flags from the facades of their town halls, in a move the French government denounced as "populism."
Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, eurosceptic Rassemblement National (RN) party is on the rise and hopes to win the country's top job in next year's presidential election. During this month's polls to elect mayors, the far-right party notched wins in small and mid-sized towns, even though it failed to take any major urban centers.
Far-right mayors in several towns wasted no time in taking down the EU flags. "Out with the European flags at the town hall! Make way for the French flags," Christophe Barthès, the mayor of the southern town of Carcassonne, said on X on Sunday, March 29. He posted footage showing him personally taking down the European flag and leaving only the French tricolor and the regional flag of Occitania.
Bryan Masson, the new mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, a seaside resort near the southern city of Nice, and Anthony Garénaux-Glinkowski, the far-right mayor of the northern town of Harnes, followed suit. Garénaux-Glinkowski also took down the Ukrainian flag that French city halls have been flying in a gesture of solidarity after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
