America has chosen to side with “tyrants” and should return the Statue of Liberty to France, a French member of the European Parliament said Sunday.
Speaking at a gathering of his center-left Place Publique party, Raphael Glucksmann, who has served in the European Parliament since 2019, reportedly told an audience that the U.S. is rejecting the values represented by the iconic statue.
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” he said, according to French media. “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.’”
“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 a gift from France to the U.S. It was dedicated in New York City in October 1886.
Mr. Glucksmann seemed to specifically object to the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize government, and its cancellation of some science and research projects.
“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,’” he said.
President Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House last month. Mr. Macron has said he supports the U.S. push to end the Russia-Ukraine war but has warned that “peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine.”
France also has expressed a willingness to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to enforce a potential ceasefire.
