The first thing that struck me when I emerged from the metro station onto the Place de la Nation was the amount of corduroy. It was without doubt the trouser material of choice for the middle-aged men participating in Sunday’s inaugural Red Scarf (Foulard Rouge) rally in support of the Republic and its institutions.
As I meandered through the crowd, which numbered only half of the 20,000 hoped for by the organisers, I was also surprised by the number of blue and gold flags. Some demonstrators were waving the EU banner and others were wrapped in it, like football fans on their way to a World Cup match.
I spied a woman sheltering from the driving rain under an EU umbrella and thought she would be a good person to start talking to. She and her husband were erudite young professionals who were braving the weather to show their support for the Republic. What about the umbrella? I asked. Isn’t the EU part of France’s problem? She nodded ‘Europe in its current form is unsatisfactory because there is too much self-interest among nations,’ she explained. ‘That’s why we should have a more federal Europe, like Macron says.’
Every Red Scarf I spoke to shared Emmanuel Macron’s ambition for a common European budget, army and parliament. A tall bearded gentleman in his thirties told me he was for a United States of Europe, a continent without borders and a common culture. A quartet of silver-haired protestors didn’t go that far but still expressed their wish for greater harmonisation within the EU.
I put this vision to half a dozen bedraggled Yellow Vests eyeing the Red Scarf rally from the other side of the road. It was not well received. ‘You English made the right decision,’ one said, as the rain dripped from his beanie.
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