The lower house of the French parliament is debating a law to facilitate the return of works of art from the colonial era.
The lower house of the French parliament begins deliberations on Monday on a bill to make it easier to return artworks looted during the colonial era to their countries of origin. TASR writes about it according to AFP.
France still owns tens of thousands of works of art that it acquired by force in the countries of its colonial empire. The bill on their return to their country of origin was unanimously approved by the Senate (the upper house of parliament) in January and must now be approved by the National Assembly (the lower house).
President Emmanuel Macron made a political commitment to ensure their return, going further than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who acknowledged historical wrongs against several African countries.
Shortly after taking office in 2017, Macron promised during a visit to Burkina Faso that France would never again interfere in its former colonies and declared that it would facilitate the return of African cultural heritage within five years.
The complexity of restitution
The bill under discussion is intended to streamline the process of returning art objects acquired between 1815 and 1972. Currently, works in state museums are considered inalienable state property and cannot simply be removed from collections and returned. Until now, potential restitutions have been dealt with for specific subjects by ad hoc laws adopted by the parliament.
Paris is facing a number of requests for restitution, mainly from Algeria, Mali and Benin. In 2025, the French parliament approved the return of the “talking drum”, which was taken from the Ebrie tribe by colonial troops in 1916. He returned home to Ivory Coast in March.
Political disputes over the law
The draft law has caused political disputes in France – the far-left party Unyielding France (LFI) wants to expand its scope. On the contrary, the far-right National Association (RN) wants to limit the restitution of art from the colonial era only to countries that have “cordial” relations with France. After a series of coups in West Africa, several former French colonies are ruled by military juntas hostile to Paris.
Already in 2023, France adopted two so-called framework laws on the return of objects in two categories – one related to property looted from Jewish families during World War II and the other to the repatriation of human remains from public collections.
