Greenpeace Returns Wax Replica of Emmanuel Macron to Paris Museum

The wax replica of Emmanuel Macron was returned to the Grévin Museum in Paris by Greenpeace, which had previously placed it outside the headquarters of France’s electricity service (EDF) to denounce economic ties between France and Russia. ‘We came to return the statue of Emmanuel Macron because, as we said from the start, it was a loan,’ stated Jean-François Jugeard, the general director of Greenpeace, speaking to AFP near the EDF offices. The organization informed both the museum management and the police that they were responsible for retrieving the statue. The replica was transported late at night by car to EDF, where activists briefly displayed it with a sign reading ‘Putin-Macron: Radioactive Allies.’ EDF was chosen ‘to hold Macron accountable for the trade maintained with Russia, particularly in the nuclear sector,’ explained Jugeard. Valued at €40,000, the statue was originally taken by Greenpeace activists on Monday and placed in front of the Russian embassy. The protest lasted only a few minutes, featuring a Russian flag behind Macron’s statue and an activist holding a fluorescent yellow poster with the slogan ‘business is business.’ Members of Greenpeace threw fake banknotes. The NGO aims to protest the economic ties between France and Russia in sectors like natural gas, chemical fertilizers, and nuclear energy. According to Jugeard, French companies continue ‘to import various products from Russia, whether enriched uranium for the operation of France’s nuclear plants, natural uranium, liquefied natural gas, or chemical fertilizers.’