French universities absolutely do have legacy admissions. It's called admissions paralleles (or sur dossier), you can pay your way in with minimal effort and get the same diploma upon graduation.
Admission sur dossier rarely happens at the engineering schools (which is where most elite go). Or it’s an extremely small sliver of the population (usually people who transfer from universities or other programs).
Polytechnique has 32 university admissions compared to ~300 from the entrance exams.
Polytechnique has 32 university admissions compared to ~300 from the entrance exams.
Harvard is 1/3rd legacies!