French lawmakers on Monday passed a bill to simplify the return of artworks looted during the colonial era to their countries of origin. France still has in its possession tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that it looted from its colonial empire. The draft legislation to return them was unanimously approved by the lower house National Assembly late on Monday. The upper house had unanimously passed the measure in January. President Emmanuel Macron has made it a political promise to return the cultural items, and has gone further than his predecessors in admitting past French abuses in Africa. Read moreFrench ‘counter-monument’ holds up a mirror to ghosts of colonial Algeria Speaking on a visit to the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou shortly after taking office in 2017, Macron vowed that France would never again interfere in its former colonies and promised to facilitate the return of African cultural heritage within five years. Designed to streamline the process, Monday's bill specifically targets property acquired between 1815 and 1972. Former colonial powers in Europe have slowly been moving to send back some artworks obtained during their imperial conquests – but France is hindered by its current legislation, which requires every item in the national collection to be voted on individually. France has been flooded with restitution demands, including from Algeria, Mali and Benin. In 2025, France's parliament approved the return to Ivory Coast of a "talking drum" that colonial troops took from the Ebrie tribe in 1916. It returned home in March.