Rachida Dati pulls 300 million euros out of her hat for heritage

Hearing by the Senate Culture Committee on Tuesday, November 5, the Minister of Culture stressed that these additional credits should respond to the “heritage emergency”.

Dthese rooms, two atmospheres: at the end of October, we learned that 150 million euros would be deleted from the finance bill of the Ministry of Culture, taken partly (95 million) from the ministry's precautionary reserve, and for the rest , on public broadcasting credits (45 million) and the Culture Pass (10 million). But Tuesday, November 5, before the Senate culture committee, Rachida Dati took another amendment out of her pocket. If adopted, it would increase the budget allocated to heritage by 300 million euros in 2025. The minister had promised a gesture for the sector, but she saw much bigger than the few million euros mentioned.

“It was not a given, between my hearing at the Assembly and today. Today, it’s done,” rejoiced Rachida Dati in front of the senators. Which did not fail to provoke a reaction from centrist senator Laurent Lafon, president of the culture committee: “If every time you come to the Senate you announce 300 million, we will invite you again very soon! » These 300 million would be added to the 1.2 billion euros allocated to this sector – for a total culture budget of 4.45 billion, stable compared to 2024. It is difficult to see parliamentarians opposing such good news, especially since these subjects – conservation and valorization of heritage – have a broad consensus among elected officials from all sides, starting with those of the National Rally. The latter had also made it the almost sole axis of their cultural program during the last presidential election.

Religious and regional buildings

Endowed with a great sense of timing and mastering the art of flattering her audience, Rachida Dati spared her effects, starting by detailing the main orientations of the 2025 budget before returning to the subject “alarming” of the state of heritage, recalling that France has forty-five thousand historical monuments including “20% are in poor condition and 5% in danger, i.e. more than two thousand who are at risk of disappear in the coming months. » As for the “fifteen thousand religious buildings protected as historical monuments, four thousand are also in danger”, assured Rachida Dati, reaffirming in passing her attachment to religious heritage “beyond the religious or confessional question”.

The exact distribution of this financial windfall remains to be determined. What we already know is that it will be partly intended for the Regions. 55 million should be reserved for the preservation of historic monuments, as well as an envelope of 23 million for museums, with specific attention paid “to small rural museums”, who would benefit from 8 million euros. Other facilities, such as conservation and archaeological study centers spread across several departments, should receive funding intended to support their investments. And as for large establishments, some whose credits fell in the initial budget would ultimately be spared, like the Château de Versailles, the Palais de la Porte-Dorée or the Château de Fontainebleau.

Built in ” priority “ of the 2025 budget, heritage is therefore well taken care of. While the other cultural sectors saw all their credits renewed almost identically, it had already benefited from a (modest) boost of 7 million euros.

Also questioned about her desire to make non-European visitors pay more for entry to major national museums, the minister simply clarified that she was talking about establishments “which receive more than 60% foreign visitors” (the Louvre, Versailles…). Finally, returning on her project of pricing the entrance to Notre-Dame, Rachida Dati contented herself, at this stage, with ensuring that it was not necessary to call into question the law of 1905 to recover funds through the through this additional participation. An assertion that remains to be verified.