Emmanuel Macron can no longer count on lawmakers to push his agenda. So instead, he’s courting billionaires.

With few allies left in a hopeless fractured legislature and unable to run for a third term, the French president is shifting his focus to cultural matters to prove he’s no powerless lame duck.

Macron has his sights set on the Louvre. He is aiming to harness the French sense of grandeur and the resources of its most wealthy citizens in the same way he did for the Notre-Dame cathedral, which was unveiled to the world several weeks ago after hundreds of millions of euros were spent to restore the landmark after it went up in flames.

Standing in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” Macron announced on Tuesday that the museum’s crown jewel would be moved into its own room and building a new entrance that would allow direct access to the museum’s most coveted piece of art.

The museum, Macron said, needed a “new Renaissance” — a not-so-subtle play on words given it happens to be the name of Macron’s political party. The project will likely cost several hundred million euros.

Such a renovation could prove to be a legacy-defining moment for Macron. The last major Louvre overhaul, during which its iconic glass pyramids were built, remains an important symbol of former President François Mitterrand’s time in office.

“The Louvre is the long term … Our capacity to establish our independence in many domains, including French cultural exceptionalism,” said an aide who was granted anonymity in line with French professional norms.

Macron is looking to “deal with big-picture issues… both the long term, and international and European affairs,” according to the aide.

With a hung legislature and few Macron loyalists in parliament, the president has seen his domestic influence greatly diminished. However, he still retains control over the military, foreign affairs and projects that don’t require lawmakers’ approval, like the Louvre.

Patrons wanted

The French president’s announcements came just a few days after the timely leak of a “confidential note” that insisted on the “dire state” of the museum in the daily newspaper Le Parisien. Indeed, the Louvre had required urgent refurbishments for years — an internal Louvre report from July 2023, seen by POLITICO, stated that a €60 million investment was needed to modernize the museum’s equipment and adapt its infrastructure to climate change.

But Macron’s plans go beyond fixing lifts and replacing the HVAC system: The French president said he would bring the Louvre into a “new era,” at a time when the current French government is struggling to pass an unpopular austerity budget featuring €53 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts.

“Many people might think it’s totally inappropriate to come and talk about a major cultural project when … budgetary discussions are obviously ongoing,” Macron noted.

Emmanuel Macron didn’t mention who could be involved in future fundraising operations, but underlined how the new project would benefit several other nearby institutions, including La Samaritaine, an iconic Parisian department store owned by LVMH. | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
But, he insisted, the new project would be funded entirely “by the museum’s own resources,” including ticket sales and private donations — which also helped pay for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame.

Per the Louvre’s yearly report, the museum gathered €20.6 million through patronage and media operations, a fraction of the €323.5 million spent on operating expenses. According to a person with direct knowledge of the Louvre’s internal affairs, France’s court of auditors — the Cour des Comptes — is currently looking into the financial handling of the institution, which received upwards of €100 million in public funding in 2023.

Macron’s plans will require more than what the Louvre is currently amassing. Asked by POLITICO where the money would come from, the Louvre responded by saying that “at this stage, the architectural project and the specifications are being studied. It is still too early to go into the details.”

The Notre-Dame reconstruction and fundraising, also spearheaded by Macron, amassed €846 million — including €100 million from billionaire François-Henri Pinault and a combined €200 million from the French luxury goods giant LVMH and a holding company controlled by its main owner, the Arnault family.

In his speech, Macron didn’t mention who could be involved in future fundraising operations, but underlined how the new project would benefit several other nearby institutions, including La Samaritaine, an iconic Parisian department store owned by LVMH; the Cartier Foundation, a contemporary art museum owned by the eponymous conglomerate that is moving near the Louvre from its current location in Montparnasse; and Pinault’s art collection, which is displayed at the nearby site of the former Parisian stock exchange.

François Pinault’s art collection is displayed at the nearby site of the former Parisian stock exchange. | Bertrand Gueay/AFP via Getty Images
A press representative for one of the aforementioned groups, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss potential donation opportunities, said no investment plan had been finalized but that “this is the type of project we get involved in.”

But despite Macron’s promises, the Louvre project could end up costing French taxpayers if patrons deduct their donations from their taxes.

The current law — which a 2018 Cour des Comptes report described as “one of the most generous in the world” — allows companies to deduct from their taxes 60 percent of the amount they donate up to €2 million and 40 percent above that threshold. Those tax mechanisms are unpopular with Macron’s leftist opposition and, according to the report, mostly benefit “very large companies” like LVMH.

And while major donors to Notre-Dame like Pinault and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault said that their contributions wouldn’t be deducted from their taxes, it’s unclear if similar promises will be made this time around.

Politico

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