A French parliamentary inquiry has found that physical and sexual abuse went unchecked for years at a Catholic boarding school while Prime Minister François Bayrou was education minister in the 1990s.
The 330-page report, released on Wednesday, says children at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school suffered violence “in the absence of action that the former education minister had the means to take”, Violette Spillebout and Paul Vannier, the two co-rapporteurs, wrote.
Bayrou, who served as education minister from 1993 to 1997, has denied any wrongdoing and called the accusations a campaign of “destruction” against him.
His office told BFMTV he ordered an inspection “the day after a complaint for a slap" appeared. They said the inspection “resulted in a positive report for the school” and claimed “all documents are online on Bayrou.fr”.
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‘Absolute sadism’
Fatiha Keloua Hachi, who led the commission of inquiry, said lawmakers heard shocking testimony over three months from 135 people, including survivors of abuse at schools across France.
“This commission of inquiry was a thorough investigation into the unthinkable – children, all over France, subjected to monstrous acts,” Keloua Hachi said.
She said survivors described sexual violence and “physical violence too, sometimes of an unprecedented severity, of absolute sadism”.
Since February last year, around 200 legal complaints have been filed accusing priests and staff at Bétharram of abuse between 1957 and 2004. Some former boarders said priests visited boys at night.
Bayrou’s eldest daughter, Hélène Perlant, has said a priest beat her at a summer camp linked to Bétharram when she was 14. She said her father did not know about the incident.
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Systemic failings
The report found the violence at Bétharram could not be reduced to isolated incidents and said it was – at least in part – kept in place by influential supporters, including some in government.
The co-rapporteurs said Bétharram was far from unique and that similar violence still happens in other schools, especially private Catholic ones, where a strong culture of silence remains.
Lawmakers described France’s system of checks as virtually non-existent and said efforts to prevent abuse remain inadequate.
The report said many victims were ignored for decades and left with lasting anger because so few adults took action while abusers went unpunished.
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Proposals for reform
The commission recommended 50 measures to address the violence. These include creating a compensation fund for victims and recognising the state’s failings that allowed the abuse to continue.
It also proposed annual inspections of boarding schools, stricter checks in private schools at least every five years and a nationwide hotline for staff and parents to report abuse outside the usual school channels.
Other ideas include a clear ban on corporal punishment and humiliating treatment, criminal checks for all staff every three years and lifting the secrecy of confession when priests hear of abuse against children under 15.
The commission called for better training for teachers, nurses and school counsellors and regular reminders that staff must report suspected violence.
Bayrou survived a vote of no confidence on Tuesday. His position could come under more pressure as France’s minority government faces tough budget talks later this year.
