[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2223457820.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tIn what was described as \u201ca decisive step in the long road to the restitution of property looted in Africa during the colonial era,\u201d on Wednesday the French National Assembly\u2019s Cultural Affairs Committee approved a proposed bill that was\u00a0unanimously passed by the Senate\u2019s Cultural Affairs Committee in January, setting up a plenary session debate on April 13.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs reported by Le Monde<\/em>, B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Savoy, the historian who co-authored a momentous restitution report with Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr in 2018, said, \u201cI am truly very moved. This shows that we can let go, that we are not clinging to collections accumulated through violence; it is a sign of collective maturity. It is\u00a0the culmination of a great movement.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat report followed a pledge by French president Emmanuel Macron in 2017 to introduce restitution policy within five years. Though the timeline extended, the new bill, according to Le Monde<\/em>, \u201cstipulates that restitution can be ordered by decree of the Minister of Culture\u201d\u2014a significant change from a status in which \u201ceach restitution was subject to specific legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSimilar to a previously proposed bill that failed to pass, the new policy \u201ccarefully avoids mentioning the colonial context\u2014merely stating that its application covers the period from 1815 until 1972, the date of entry into force of the UNESCO Convention on the Restitution of Cultural Property.\u201d Catherine P\u00e9gard, France\u2019s Minister of Culture, described the policy as\u00a0\u201da law of responsibility and truth, a law that is neither in denial nor in repentance.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAmong the many issues that have challenged the passing of a restitution bill is the language used to characterize its rationale and the nature of its implementation. As Le Monde<\/em> writes, \u201cWhile no group has voiced outright opposition to the law, the plenary session on April 13 could generate some friction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAlexandre Portier, chair of the National Assembly\u2019s Cultural Affairs Committee, acknowledged, \u201cIt\u2019s clear that two opposing views of history are clashing in the National Assembly, the challenge being to avoid both repentance and amnesia.\u201d But he remains confident that the bill will pass: \u201cWe found a compromise that allows everyone to reclaim their history by depoliticizing it. This law is a valuable tool for cultural diplomacy with African countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/restitution-law-france-advances-1234780729\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2223457820.jpg?w=1024″] In what was described as \u201ca decisive step in the long road to the restitution of property looted in Africa during the colonial era,\u201d on Wednesday the French National Assembly\u2019s Cultural Affairs Committee approved a proposed bill that was\u00a0unanimously passed by the Senate\u2019s Cultural Affairs Committee in January, setting up a plenary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1874164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1874164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1874164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1874164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1874164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}