France backs colonial‑era art returns

France’s National Assembly voted unanimously on April 13 to create a standing legal route for returning cultural objects taken from foreign states during the colonial era. (assemblee-nationale.fr) The bill had already passed the Senate on January 28, and the Assembly approved it by 170 votes after the government used an accelerated procedure. The text now goes to a joint committee of lawmakers from both chambers because deputies amended the Senate version. (assemblee-nationale.fr, france24.com, gazette-drouot.com) Under current French law, works in public collections are protected by the rule that they cannot be sold or given away, so Parliament has had to pass a separate law for each return. The new bill would write an exception into the heritage code instead of repeating that process case by case. (vie-publique.fr, lcp.fr) The bill covers objects that entered French public collections through “illicit appropriation” between November 1815 and April 1972. That includes theft, looting, and transfers obtained through coercion or violence, according to the parliamentary summaries. (vie-publique.fr, lcp.fr) The dates are not arbitrary. Lawmakers tied the start to the expansion of France’s second colonial empire and the end to the 1970 UNESCO convention, which set an international framework for fighting the illicit trade in cultural property. (lcp.fr) The measure follows Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 speech in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where he said African heritage should not remain concentrated in European museums and promised conditions for returns within five years. That pledge produced a series of one-off restitution laws, including the 2021 return of 26 royal treasures from Abomey to Benin. (lcp.fr, france24.com) France still holds tens of thousands of objects taken during empire, and officials say roughly a dozen formal restitution requests are already on file. The new framework is meant to handle those claims without forcing a new parliamentary battle over each object. (thelocal.fr, aa.com.tr) Deputies also tightened the text. Against the government’s advice, they added language asking requesting states to commit to international conservation standards and to public access for returned works. (france24.com, banquedesterritoires.fr) Supporters in government called the bill a legal tool for returns that France has delayed for years. Critics, including some restitution advocates, have argued that conditions on claimant states preserve an unequal relationship by asking former colonies to prove they can care for objects European museums long kept from them. (france24.com, banquedesterritoires.fr) For now, the central change is procedural: France is moving from exceptional restitution laws to a permanent mechanism. Whether that produces faster returns will depend on the compromise text lawmakers write next. (vie-publique.fr, gazette-drouot.com)