France’s Senate approved a draft bill designed to simplify the return of colonial-era artefacts to their countries of origin.
The move could speed up restitution requests from nations including Algeria, Mali and Benin, as Paris seeks to reconcile its museum laws with demands to address historical injustices.
The bill, approved on Wednesday by the upper house, will now be sent to the National Assembly, France’s lower chamber, for debate before it can become law.
If passed, it would create a clearer legal pathway for returning cultural property removed from colonised territories and currently held in French public collections.
France remains in possession of tens of thousands of artworks and artefacts acquired during its imperial expansion, many of which are housed in national museums.
Efforts to return these items have long been constrained by French law, which requires each object in the national collection to be approved for restitution through a specific parliamentary vote.
The proposed legislation is designed to streamline that process. It specifically targets property acquired between 1815 and 1972, a period that covers much of France’s colonial activity.
By establishing a broader framework, the bill aims to avoid repeated, case-by-case parliamentary battles that have slowed or blocked returns in the past.
“The idea is not to empty French museums, but to achieve authenticity in France's response, without denial or repentance, but in recognition of our history,” said centrist Senator Catherine Morin-Desailly during the debate.
The vote reflects a broader shift in France’s approach to its colonial legacy, particularly under President Emmanuel Macron.
Since taking office in 2017, Macron has gone further than previous leaders in acknowledging abuses committed during the colonial period, especially in Africa.
During a visit to Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, shortly after his election, Macron pledged that France would no longer interfere in the affairs of its former colonies and promised to facilitate the return of African cultural heritage within five years.
Restitution of looted artworks has since become one of the cornerstones of what Macron described as a new relationship between France and Africa.
Despite these commitments, progress has been uneven. France’s existing legal framework has often been cited as a major obstacle, requiring lawmakers to approve the return of each individual object.
In 2025, for example, parliament passed a specific law to allow the return of a “talking drum” taken by colonial troops from Ivory Coast’s Ebrie tribe in 1916, illustrating how cumbersome the process can be.
The Senate-backed bill could help address a growing number of restitution requests already submitted by countries including Algeria, Mali and Benin.
France has been flooded with such demands in recent years, reflecting a wider push across Africa to reclaim cultural heritage removed during colonial rule.
The European country is not alone in facing these pressures. Former colonial powers across Europe have begun returning some artefacts acquired during imperial conquests, though the pace and scope of restitution vary widely.
France’s move is being closely watched as a potential model for balancing museum preservation with historical accountability.
The draft legislation also builds on steps taken in recent years. In 2023, France adopted two so-called framework laws covering the return of goods looted from Jewish families during World War II and the repatriation of human remains from public collections.
The new bill extends that logic to colonial-era artefacts, aiming to provide a more coherent and consistent legal basis for restitution.
Supporters argue that the reform will allow France to respond more credibly to restitution claims while maintaining the integrity of its museums.
Critics, however, are likely to scrutinise how decisions are made and which objects qualify for return under the new criteria.
As the bill moves to the National Assembly, debate is expected to focus on how far France should go in confronting its colonial past through restitution.
For now, the Senate’s unanimous vote signals rare political consensus on an issue that has long stirred moral, cultural and diplomatic sensitivities.
