According to local media, President Emmanuel Macron has replaced the previous brighter shade of navy blue on the official French flag with a darker navy blue. The new version of the flag was previously used during the French Revolution in the 1790s. The brighter navy blue of the flag was changed in 1976 by President Valery Giscard-d’Estaing to match the color of the European Union flag. Some argued that President Macron’s return to navy blue was ugly and would clash with the EU flag, while others approved the pre-1976 version.

Historian Jean Garrigues said that the president is authorized to decide to change the national flag in this way, and added, “This is one of a series of privileges. The Presidency in France is a kind of republican monarchy.”