France Votes to Return Looted Cultural Treasures

(MENAFN) France's National Assembly cleared a pivotal piece of legislation Wednesday, approving a draft law that would establish a comprehensive legal framework for returning cultural property acquired through looting, theft, and coerced sales — marking a significant shift in how Paris handles the restitution of contested heritage assets.

The lower house passed the bill 141 votes to zero, though participation was notably thin relative to the chamber's full complement of 577 seats.

The legislation targets cultural property obtained by France through illicit means between 1815 and 1972, deliberately excluding military items and certain archaeological objects. Its core aim is to dismantle the legal obstacles that have long made restitution a cumbersome, case-by-case process, replacing them with a streamlined and transparent mechanism.

Under France's deeply entrenched principle of the inalienability of public collections, returning artifacts to their countries of origin had previously required individual acts of parliament — a slow and politically fraught process that severely limited the volume of restitutions possible.

The bill's path through the French legislature has involved several rounds of refinement. The Senate first passed its version on Jan. 29, while the National Assembly approved a divergent iteration on April 13 with 170 votes in favor and none against. A joint reconciliation committee — comprising seven deputies and seven senators — subsequently bridged the gap between the two versions, submitting a unified compromise text on April 30.

The revised legislation must clear one final hurdle before becoming law: a Senate review scheduled for Thursday, after which it can proceed to formal promulgation.

MENAFN07052026000045017169ID1111081588