French PM digs in heels during high-profile hearing on child abuse scandal

PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou vehemently hit back against allegations that he mishandled a decades-old child abuse scandal during more than five hours of grilling on Wednesday.

Bayrou spent much of the marathon hearing attacking the motives of the panel, especially far-left lawmaker Paul Vannier, as lawmakers attempted to nail down just how much he knew about the allegations of both physical and sexual abuse at a Catholic school in his constituency — some of which first surfaced when he was education minister and held local leadership roles in the 1990s. 

“I didn’t lie,” Bayrou said. “I never hid anything.”

While the prime minister did not commit any notable slip-ups, he did not appear to present strong enough evidence to put the scandal to rest or shake off lingering doubts about his past statements.

Bayrou in February told lawmakers in the National Assembly that he hadn’t known about sexual abuse at the school at the time, but seemingly contradicted that statement in the days that followed and then again during the hearing.

“The only information I had was what was covered in the press,” Bayrou said. 

The scandal is a serious threat to Bayrou, who has been under intense pressure to lay out a credible path to thwart a looming budget crisis. Though Bayrou has managed to survive France’s gridlocked politics longer than his predecessor Michel Barnier, his minority center-right government remains intact thanks only to a fractured opposition, which could coalesce against it in the upcoming budget cycle.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said Bayrou had “his full trust” but behind the scenes speculation has been mounting over the prime minister’s future. A government adviser, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, said ahead of the hearing that Macron would be able to ask for Bayrou’s resignation “if things get out of hand in the media.”

The case came back into the public eye last year when prosecutors announced they would investigate fresh allegations from dozens of former pupils at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, which some of Bayrou’s own children attended.

Some 200 people have come forward as of early April to testify about abuse at the Bétharram institution, according to the local prosecutor’s office. Bayrou’s own daughter revealed last month that she was among those physically abused.

One of the most serious allegations dates back to the late 1990s when the school’s director, a priest, was accused of child rape by a former student. The judge in charge of the investigations at the time testified under oath that he had met with Bayrou at his request during the investigation phase, and said he had given him details about the allegations. 

The priest committed suicide before the case was concluded.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said Bayrou had “his full trust.” | POOL photo by Lou Benoist/EPA-EFE

Bayrou first denied knowing about allegations of sexual abuse and told Le Monde he didn’t discuss them with the judge at the time. He later walked that back, telling lawmakers he “might” have discussed the case with the judge, who was his neighbor.  

On Wednesday he said he had “no recollection of this [conversation].” But, he added, “I trust the judge” that it happened.

Other aspects of the case centered around multiple allegations of violent physical abuse, including leaving children outside during freezing winter nights as punishment for misbehavior. In one case described at the hearing, a student narrowly escaped amputation as a consequence of frostbite.

“Were there methods that were a bit rough? Probably yes. Would they be accepted today? Probably not,” Bayrou said.

A former teacher at the school said under oath in a separate hearing that she had reached out personally to Bayrou in the 1990s and alerted him about the physical abuse. The prime minister accused her of fabricating part of her testimony and said “she informed me of nothing.”