PARIS — The blame game and finger pointing following Sunday’s heist at the Louvre Museum kicked off almost as quickly as the seven-minute robbery itself.
France’s far right was quick to assign fault to President Emmanuel Macron and his allies for the brazen, broad-daylight theft of the French crown jewels, accusing them of being soft on crime and failing to sufficiently protect the nation’s heritage.
MEP Marion Maréchal proposed eliminating the €200 cultural vouchers offered to French high school students, a measure put in place under Macron, and redirecting those funds toward protecting France’s “national treasures.”
She later called France the “laughingstock of the world” and called on Culture Minister Rachida Dati — who has acknowledged “failures” in securing the world’s most visited museum in several interviews — to demand the resignations of the museum’s director and head of security.
“The responsibility lies with 40 years of abandonment during which problems were swept under the rug … We always focused on the security of cultural institutions for visitors, much less for that of the artworks,” Dati told broadcaster M6 on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a high-ranking official with the country’s biggest far-right party, the National Rally, accused the French “political and media system’s … soft-on-crime ideology” of being “responsible” for the heist.
In a series of angry social media posts, he claimed that “French museums, like our historic buildings and churches, are DELIBERATELY not secured to the same standard as the treasures they contain.”National Rally President Jordan Bardella called the incident a “humiliation” before asking: “How far will the breakdown of the state go?”
Meanwhile, conservative lawmaker Alexandre Portier announced plans to propose a parliamentary inquiry into the protection of French heritage and museum security, as first reported by POLITICO.
Security concerns have long been a point of contention within the museum. Trade unions have repeatedly sounded the alarm over what they describe as poor working conditions and understaffing among security personnel — who have gone on strike several times, most recently in June, amid growing visitor numbers driven by mass tourism.
In a bid to modernize the museum’s aging infrastructure, Macron in January announced an ambitious renovation project featuring a new entrance and a dedicated room for the Mona Lisa. The plan — dubbed Louvre — Nouvelle Renaissance — also includes security upgrades such as next-generation surveillance cameras, enhanced perimeter detection and a new central security control room, according to the culture ministry.
As of Monday, the perpetrators remain at large — and the Louvre was closed to the public for a second consecutive day.
The post Far right hits Macron’s government for Louvre heist as blame game begins appeared first on Politico.
