French Far-Right: Emir Abdelkader’s Property Belongs to France, Can’t Be Restituted
The French far-right National Rally (RN) party launched a scandalous manoeuvre against Algeria, through a written question in the National Assembly addressed to the Ministry of Culture regarding the Algerian Emir Abdelkader, 48 hours after President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the lower chamber and the holding of snap elections at the end of June.
The written question, which Echorouk checked out, said that Matthieu Marchio draws the attention of the Minister of Culture to a list of requests for the restitution of property that Algeria sent to France on May 27, 2024. Most of the artefacts in this list belong to Emir Abdelkader and are located in different cultural institutions, including the Army Museum in the National Hotel of Les Invalides (disabled) and the Condé Museum in the Chantilly Palace.
The RN’s MP considered with all boasting that the Algerian request to restitute the properties belonging to Emir Abdelkader “contradicts the principle of the inalienability of national holdings, which should not be questioned,” and stressed that “this property that was acquired throughout the country’s rich history is the property of the French people and no one can take away what belongs to people.”
The French MP continued boasting when he said; “The requests related to the assets stored in the Condé Museum in Chantilly Palace clash with the provisions of the will of Duke d’Aumale, the founder of the museum, who placed his exceptional treasures at the disposal of the French Institute on the condition that none of them leave the museum.”
The far-right MP concluded his question by asking the French government to find out its position on Algeria’s request to restitute this property, and expressed his hope “that France will firmly reject this Algerian request.”
A question that most Algerians ask is; “Why do this party (RN) stick to keeping Emir Abdelkader’s property in France although it hates everything related to Algeria?!”
