France should take back the Statue of Liberty because the
US no longer represents the values that led France to
offer the statue, a French Euro-deputy said Sunday.
"Give us back the Statue of Liberty", centre-left
politician Raphael Glucksmann said at a convention of his
Place Publique centre-left movement.
"We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to
side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired
researchers for demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us
back the Statue of Liberty,'" he told cheering
supporters.
"'We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise
it. So it will be just fine here at home,'" he added.
The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York City's
harbour on October 28, 1886 for the centennial of the
American Declaration of Independence as a gift from the
French people to America. It designed by Frenchman
Auguste Bartholdi.
Paris does have a far smaller copy of the statue on a
small island on the Seine in Paris.
Glucksmann, a staunch defender of Ukraine, has strongly
criticised President Donald Trump's radical change of US
policy on the war.
He also took aim at Trump's cuts to US research
institutions, which has already prompted a French
government initiative to attract some of them to work in
France.
"The second thing we're going to say to the Americans is:
'if you want to fire your best researchers, if you want
to fire all the people who, through their freedom and
their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and
research, have made your country the world's leading
power, then we're going to welcome them,'" continued
Glucksmann.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his
government has cut federal research funding and sought to
dismiss hundreds of federal workers working on health and
climate research.
Glucksmann also criticised far-right leaders in France,
accusing them of being a "fan club" for Trump and
billionaire Elon Musk, who is spearheading the
president's efforts to cut spending.
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