As Notre-Dame holds its first mass Saturday since a devastating fire two months ago, billionaire French donors who pledged hundreds of millions for rebuilding have "yet to pay a cent", a spokesman for the cathedral said, reports FRANCE 24.
Instead, the funds paying for clean-up and reconstruction are coming mainly from French and American citizens who donated to church charities like the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris. Those charities are helping pay the bills and the salaries of up to 150 workers employed by the cathedral since the April 15th fire destroyed its roof and caused its iconic spire to collapse.
"The big donors haven't paid. Not a cent," André Finot, a senior press official at Notre-Dame, told AP on Friday. "They want to know what exactly their money is being spent on and if they agree to it before they hand it over, and not just to pay employees' salaries."
Less than a tenth of the hundreds of millions promised has been donated, the French culture ministry said Friday. Only 80 million euros of the 850 million euros pledged has been handed over – and most of that has come in small sums given by ordinary people.
The cathedral's vaulted roof "could still collapse" at any moment, culture minister Franck Riester warned Friday, as he confirmed the slow pace at which pledges were turning into cash.
Almost 1 billion dollars was promised by some of France's richest and most powerful families and companies, some of whom publicly sought to outbid each other in the days after the inferno. The pledges prompted criticism that the donations were as much about the vanity of the donors as the restoration of a cornerstone of France's cultural heritage.
François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of the Kering company that owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, promised 100 million euros. Not to be outdone, CEO Bernard Arnault of rival luxury giant LVMH – which owns both Louis Vuitton and Dior – pledged 200 million euros, as did the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation of the L'Oréal fortune. French energy company Total also pledged 100 million euros.
The spontaneous pledges prompted a backlash in France, which has seen months of Yellow Vest protests advocating for struggling workers. Many questioned why these corporations could not mobilise similar funds in the service of larger causes, like tackling income inequality or climate change.
But none of that money has yet been received, according to Finot, as big-time donors wait to see how the sometimes controversial reconstruction plans take shape
A spokesman for the Pinault Collection acknowledged that the family hadn't yet transferred any money for the cathedral's restoration, blaming that on a delay in contracts.
"We are willing to pay, provided it is requested within a contractual framework," said spokesman Jean-Jacques Aillagon.
The LVMH Group and the Arnault family said in a statement that they were signing an agreement with the Notre Dame Foundation, a partner group to the cathedral, and "the payments will be made as the work progresses".
Total has pledged to pay its 100 million euros via the Heritage Foundation, whose Director General, Celia Verot, confirmed that the multinational has not paid anything yet. She said donors are waiting to see what the plans are and if they are in line with each company's particular vision before they agree to a transfer of money.
"How the funds will be used by the state is the big question," Verot said. "It's a voluntary donation, so the companies are waiting for the government's vision to see what precisely they want to fund."
The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation said that it, too, hasn't handed over any money because it wants to ensure its donation is spent on causes that fit the foundation's specific ethos, which supports craftsmanship in art.
Culture minister Riester said the shortfall is due to two factors. "First, you might have people who promised to give but who in the end won't," he said.