“Give us back the Statue of Liberty. We gave it to you, but apparently you despise it. So it will be fine here at home”

The Statue of Liberty is perhaps the most iconic of all of America’s great landmarks. Commissioned in 1875 to celebrate the fraternity between the United States and France, the colossal, 93-meter tall statue has overlooked Upper New York Bay for the past 140 years. But one French politician thinks it should be returned to the République.

MEP Raphaël Glucksmann cheekily told a Place Publique party convention, “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!’”

Glucksmann‘s tongue-in-cheek comment was met by cheers from party members, as he continued, “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home”.

Iconic landmark looking over New York Bay

The Statue of Liberty was unveiled on October 28, 1886 for the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. Designed by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the work was originally titled Liberty Enlightening the World. Holding a torch adorned with gold leaf, it shines as a beacon of hope and freedom. The statue was presented as a gift from the French people to America.

There are over a hundred replicas of the Statue of Liberty around the world - six of them in Paris, perhaps the most well known is the Statue de la Liberté which stands on l'île aux Cygnes on the river Seine.

Glucksmann not impressed with Trump’s policies

Glucksmann isn’t too happy with President Donald Trump’s policy and involvement in trying to broker a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Another bug bear for the Place Publique politician is Trump’s decision to implement a raft of cuts which will directly impact US biomedical research institutions in a huge cost-cutting operation.

“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,” Glucksmann concluded.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at the French MEP, “My advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now, so they should be very grateful to our great country.”

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