French minister admits state failure to take timely action on sexual abuse claims at Catholic school

By Ilayda Cakirtekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - The French education minister acknowledged on Friday that the state had failed to respond to allegations of violence and sexual abuse at Catholic schools.

“We can say that the state was not up to the task in this case,” Elisabeth Borne told BFMTV/RMC, adding that she could not understand why they had not acted sooner.

Borne also emphasized the importance of reinforcing controls and expressed "solidarity" with the victims.

Priests and supervisors at the Notre-Dame-de-Betharram boarding school, a Catholic institution near Pau, are the subject of around 100 complaints related to violence, sexual assault, and rape that allegedly took place between the 1970s and 1990s.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, a native of the region, has been accused of being aware of the events at the school when several of his children were enrolled and where his wife gave courses while he was serving as education minister at the time.