Bétharram Affair: François Bayrou's Audacity in the Face of the Commission of Inquiry
During his hearing before the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the prevention of violence in schools on Wednesday, May 14, the French Prime Minister displayed his lack of respect for the work of MPs from other parties. This particular case reveals a general problem in France, according to this German daily.
For decades, students at the private Catholic school Notre-Dame de Bétharram , located in the foothills of the Pyrenees, were subjected to all manner of brutality, corporal punishment, and sexual abuse. Alerted by several victims as early as 1996, the justice system did nothing. Today, the scandal is shaking the French people's confidence in their institutions, particularly Prime Minister François Bayrou. On Wednesday afternoon, for five and a half hours, the centrist spoke to a parliamentary commission of inquiry tasked with understanding how this violence was tolerated for so long. More than 200 victims have filed complaints.
François Bayrou, 73, has several ties to Bétharram. Three of his six children attended the school, where his wife also taught catechism classes. As a member of parliament and president of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departmental council, and then as Minister of Education between 1993 and 1997, François Bayrou was in a position to investigate these suspicions and break the “Bétharram silence.”
Before the commission of inquiry, the Prime Minister considered that his only summons to this hearing was
Courrier International
