The parliamentary commission of inquiry into violence in schools, created in the wake of the Betharram case, said this Wednesday, March 12, wanting to “audition” Prime Minister François Bayrou.
“Of course Mr. Bayrou will be interviewed by the Commission,” said Fatiha Keloua Hachi (PS), the president of the commission during a press conference with the two corapporters, Paul Vannier (LFI) and Violette Spillebout (Renaissance). Paul Vannier considered that François Bayrou “as Minister of Education […] But also as president of the Departmental Council, may (IT) probably enlighten our work “.
The current Minister of National Education, Elisabeth Borne, will also be “auditioned by our committee,” added the rebellious deputy. He also indicated that on the first day of hearings, scheduled for March 20, would notably be heard Alain Esquerre, the spokesperson for the collective of victims of violence within the Notre-Dame-de-Betharram establishment, at the heart of a scandal of violence and rapes spread over several decades. The Pau prosecution is investigating more than a hundred complaints.
François Bayrou has been implicated since the beginning of February by several testimonies claiming that he was aware, what he denies, first accusations surrounding the establishment, where some of his children were educated.
Asked about the possibility for the head of government not to go to the summons of the Commission, Fatiha Keloua Hachi replied that “the current government cannot escape” such a summons. “Those who can escape it, it would be the President of the Republic and the close guard of the President of the Republic,” she said. An order fixing the parliamentary rules does not provide any exceptions: the head of government in office is required to respond to the summons of a parliamentary commission of inquiry.
The “state control” of violence in schools
The work of the commission of inquiry will take place in three stages, said Fatiha Keloua Hachi. First the hearings of victims, then those of the administration, in particular national education, and finally the hearings of political leaders. The summons have not yet been sent to the latter. According to the socialist deputy, the hearings of political leaders could be held in early May. She hopes for a discount of the commission of inquiry at the end of June.
The Committee on Cultural Affairs and Education of the National Assembly, chaired by Fatiha Keloua Hachi, has acquired the powers of a commission of inquiry at the end of February to lean for six months on “the terms of state control and the prevention of violence in educational establishments”, private and public.
“We want to protect children,” said MP Violette Spillebout. “We want it to be possible that there are more abuses for years that are tone and which cannot be revealed and punished up to crimes.”