Overview
- The National Assembly approved in first reading and unanimously the abrogation of the Code Noir and related colonial slavery texts on Thursday, May 28, 2026.
- The adopted text removes archaic royal provisions from the statute books and requires the government to deliver a report on the long-term effects of colonial law, racial discrimination, and how slavery is taught in schools.
- The law does not create reparations; deputies and overseas representatives have pressed the Assembly to move from symbolic acts to concrete measures such as a law‑frame, dedicated committees, or public policy changes.
- The proposal was carried by MP Max Mathiasin with broad cross-party cosignatures from LFI to LR, won public backing from President Emmanuel Macron, and excluded the Rassemblement National from cosignatory status.
- Because the text passed only the Assembly in first reading it now awaits Senate examination with no date set, and the vote revives debate about France’s colonial past including that 1848 compensation went to slave owners rather than to the formerly enslaved.