France has introduced groundbreaking legislation that will allow the government to fast-track the return of African cultural artifacts without requiring individual parliamentary approval for each case. However, significant bureaucratic obstacles still remain for former African colonies seeking to reclaim their heritage.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati presented the comprehensive bill to the French cabinet on Wednesday, marking a significant step forward in fulfilling President Emmanuel Macron's ambitious 2017 pledge to prioritize the return of African cultural heritage. The proposed legislation is designed to streamline the currently cumbersome procedures for returning cultural property that was illegally acquired through theft, looting, or violent seizure during France's colonial empire between 1815 and 1972.

"The text I presented this morning to the Council of Ministers is a powerful act and a powerful ambition! For peace, for the recognition of memories, and for the renewal of our relations with countries that were wronged," Dati wrote in a post on X, emphasizing the historical significance of the legislation.

France has notably lagged behind other European nations in restitution efforts. Germany, for example, has successfully returned more than a thousand cultural objects to African states, while France has only deaccessioned a handful of artifacts since Macron's 2017 declaration in Burkina Faso, where he promised to make the return of African artifacts a top governmental priority within five years.

The most recent example of French restitution occurred when France agreed to return a sacred drum to Ivory Coast that colonial troops had seized from the Ebrie tribe in 1916. France's sluggish progress has been largely attributed to the country's requirement to pass individual legislation for each restitution case – a lengthy and complex process that can take several years to complete.

Wednesday's proposed law would fundamentally change this approach by allowing the French government to approve the return of cultural heritage to countries of origin through governmental decree, provided certain specific conditions are met.

Despite these procedural improvements, the new legislation does not guarantee that African countries will receive their cultural property back any faster, according to Catherine Morin-Desailly, a senator and member of the French Senate Culture Committee. "I'm going to be nuanced because for each object it is also necessary to examine the request and to have a scientific, historical and legal study that allows us to affirm that it is indeed the right object," she explained.

The proposed law establishes complicated requirements that must be fulfilled before any artifact can be returned without French parliamentary approval. First and foremost, comprehensive documentation must be submitted to a bilateral scientific committee providing concrete proof that an artifact was obtained through illicit means. Subsequently, France's senior administrative jurisdiction, the Conseil d'État, will provide the final approval to restitute the object.

The legislation also includes specific limitations on which items qualify for expedited return. Only artifacts intended for future public display will be considered for restitution, while military items, public archives, and objects discovered during archaeological excavations are explicitly excluded from the proposed legislation.

The bill has faced criticism from some quarters. Senator Pierre Ouzoulias, a member of France's cultural commission, expressed deep regret in an interview with The Art Newspaper about the government's attempt to rush such a complex matter, particularly after years of delay during which Dati allegedly did nothing to advance the legislation. Ouzoulias has called for the appointment of an independent scientific body to oversee the approval process, arguing this would prevent the government from using restitutions as a political tool.

"France has not finished mourning its colonial past. That's one of the challenges of restitution," Ouzoulias wrote on X, highlighting the broader cultural and psychological dimensions of the restitution debate.

The stakes are considerable, as multiple African countries, including Senegal, Chad, Ethiopia, and Algeria, have formally requested the return of tens of thousands of cultural objects currently held in French museums and collections. These requests represent decades of colonial-era acquisitions that many African nations consider illegitimate seizures of their cultural patrimony.

The French Senate is scheduled to vote on the new bill on September 24th, marking a crucial moment in France's evolving relationship with its colonial past and its commitment to cultural justice for African nations.