Bétharram Affair: "François Bayrou lied to the Assembly," reaffirms LFI MP Paul Vannier

LFI MP Paul Vannier , co-rapporteur of the commission of inquiry into violence in schools, said on Thursday, the day after François Bayrou's very tense hearing on the Bétharram affair , that the latter had admitted to having "lied" in February when he was questioned for the first time in the Assembly about his knowledge of the facts in the 1990s.

"François Bayrou, thanks to the oath, finally acknowledges that his statements to MPs, to victims in recent months, were mendacious, false, and inaccurate," Paul Vannier said on Franceinfo.

"He also had a strategy of digression, of confusion, where he accumulated a certain number of elements, we will have to, after these 5 and a half hours, take the time to look at them one by one," explained the deputy, retaining "an important lesson: yes, François Bayrou lied to the National Assembly."

While denouncing a commission of inquiry that was "not entirely objective" and a co-rapporteur eager to "fuel a scandal trial" in order to "bring down the government," François Bayrou, who was Minister of Education when the first complaint was filed nearly 30 years ago, assured under oath that he had "had no other information" than "from the press."

He was questioned on February 11 by Paul Vannie himself , during questions to the government, about his knowledge of the facts at the time and responded that he had "never been informed" of the sexual assaults at Bétharram, an establishment located near his town, Pau, and where several of his children attended school.

"Can we accept a Prime Minister who lies in front of MPs when they are exercising their constitutional prerogative to monitor government action?" asked Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of La France Insoumise, on X. "For us, the answer is no!" he concluded.

Questioned by the National Assembly's commission of inquiry on his knowledge of the violence that occurred at the Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram school near Pau, François Bayrou on Wednesday denounced the "dishonesty" of LFI co-rapporteur, MP Paul Vannier, accusing him of wanting to "fuel a scandalous trial."

"I need to express my surprise at the incredible discovery of your dishonesty," the Prime Minister declared, targeting Paul Vannier during a tense exchange with the president of the Socialist Party commission, Fatiha Keloua Hachi, over the documents the Prime Minister wanted to show. "It is disgraceful to implicate people when we have evidence to the contrary before our eyes," he thundered.

On Radio J, the leader of the Modem deputies, Marc Fesneau , who is very close to François Bayrou, also attacked Paul Vannier, judging "this way of treating people quite disgusting." "It's Stalinism," he said, referring to "a prosecution."

"I find the reappropriation of La France Insoumise quite disgraceful," declared LR MP leader Laurent Wauquiez on RTL, judging that "we are not facing a political crisis, we are facing a societal crisis."

Much more critical of the Prime Minister, the leader of the Socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud, denounced "a smokescreen" implemented by François Bayrou during these more than five hours of hearing. "At the end of this hearing, do the French people, the victims, feel that they have been enlightened about what happened? Have they had additional elements of understanding? I don't think so," he lamented on Sud Radio.