LONDON - France’s national tragedy has warmed its philanthropic heart. The country’s wealthiest tycoons and some of its biggest companies reached into their pockets on Tuesday in a spontaneous series of pledges to help rebuild Notre-Dame, after the Paris cathedral was gutted by a huge fire the previous evening. The corporate generosity is particularly striking given that this kind of high-profile benevolence is less common in France than elsewhere.

The pledges read like a roll-call of France’s biggest business names. Bernard Arnault, founder of luxury goods maker LVMH, said he would donate 200 million euros from the company and his foundation, a figure matched by cosmetics giant L’Oreal and its largest shareholder, the Bettencourt family. Oil major Total pledged 100 million euros, as did François-Henri Pinault, chairman of the Kering luxury group. The bosses of the Bouygues conglomerate and lender Société Générale pledged smaller sums. American buyout baron Henry Kravis and his wife chipped in $10 million.

The charitable outpouring contrasts with France’s lowly standing in the philanthropy rankings. According to the most recent figures from the European Research Network on Philanthropy, French households, corporations and foundations gave away 8.4 billion euros in 2013, equivalent to 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP. That’s some way short of Germany’s 0.8 percent and Britain’s 1.2 percent. There are no French signatories to the Giving Pledge, the scheme set up by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the world’s richest people to give away half or more of their wealth.

That’s partly down to history. Ever since the French Revolution the state has been considered the main custodian of the common good. That ethos is reflected in France’s tax burden, which at 46.2 percent of GDP in 2017 was the highest amongst developed nations as recorded by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The headline numbers also don’t reflect that French employers often give workers more time off to volunteer.

Helping to restore a symbol of national pride makes moral sense. Given France’s ongoing civil strife, rebuilding Notre-Dame is also a good way for its richer citizens to show they are giving something back. The shame is that it took the near-destruction of a national monument to unfreeze their wallets.

CONTEXT NEWS

- France’s wealthiest tycoons and some of its biggest companies pledged hundreds of millions of euros on April 16 to help repair the iconic Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which was partially destroyed by fire the previous day.

- Bernard Arnault, founder of the LVMH luxury goods group, said he and the company would donate 200 million euros, a sum matched by cosmetics giant L’Oreal and its majority shareholder, the Bettencourt family. Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman of Kering, pledged 100 million euros, as did oil major Total.

- Air France-KLM said it would provide free transport to anybody involved in the repair and restoration effort.

(Editing by Peter Thal Larsen and Bob Cervi)

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