Stories of the abuse of pupils at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram private Catholic school in south-west France have grabbed the headlines in recent months, and have been the subject of parliamentary debate and a high-profile report by Members of Parliament. But how many pupils and former pupils have taken their own lives after suffering abuse at this and other such schools? That question has been notably absent from the many debates sparked by the Bétharram affair. Yet there are many such cases. Mediapart has spoken to witnesses and loved ones, who tell of lives and families that have been torn apart. Sarah Brethes and Mathilde Mathieu report.
Last weekend the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen flew to Scotland where she met President Donald Trump to discuss and ultimately agree on a trade deal between the European Union and the United States. But no sooner had the pair shaken hands on the agreement than the entire French political class slammed the deal, with government ministers also making clear their dismay. Yet for the French executive as a whole, this “deal” raised even more awkward questions: for it reveals Paris's diminishing influence on the European stage. Ilyes Ramdani reports.
Last week a judge ruled that France's culture minister Rachida Dati should stand trial on corruption and abuse of power charges. However, this did not stop Dati – who denies the allegations – from continuing her tough approach towards the country's broadcast media. Over the years the culture minister, part of whose remit is to uphold the independence of the press, has launched ferocious attacks on every newsroom that has dared mention cases that cast doubt on her integrity in public life. After targeting the country's public service broadcaster, the minister’s inner circle has once again turned on commercial news channel BFMTV, this time by insulting its editorial director. David Perrotin reports.
A public petition launched in France against new legislation that will allow the use of a previously-banned pesticide has gathered close to two million signatures. Among other measures aimed at the agriculture industry, the so-called 'loi Duplomb' will once again permit farmers to spray crops with acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide known to be harmful to pollinators such as bees. In an interview with Mediapart, political scientist Vincent Tiberj says he views the success of the petition as a sign of the strength of citizen democracy and its resistance against a rightwards shift in French political life. Interview by Mathieu Dejean.
The French president has announced that Paris will formally recognise the state of Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly in September. After long waiting for backing from both Western and Arab allies, the French head of state has now decided to go it alone. As Mediapart's political correspondent Ilyes Ramdani reports, the impact of this decision - which has already been angrily condemned in Tel Aviv and criticised in the United States - will largely depend on Paris’s ability to stand firm against Israeli pressure.
Mediapart has since May been publishing a series of reports regularly sent to it from inside the Gaza Strip by two young Palestinians. Nour Elassy, a 22-year-old journalist, who is also a poet and writer, and Ibrahim Badra, a 23-year-old journalist and human rights activist, chronicle the grim reality of life and death in Gaza as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to wage a genocidal war against the population of about 2.1 million. In this episode, Elassy recounts the pain and sorrow of her evacuation from Gaza earlier this month, after being offered a place at France’s prestigious social sciences school, the EHESS, while Badra, who remains in Gaza, recounts more of the dire plight of the population facing starvation.
As one of a series of reports looking into the rise of support for the far-right in France, Mediapart chose to visit the small town of Gaillon, in southern Normandy, about 100 kilometres north of Paris, with a population of around 6,500. Nejma Brahim travelled to Gaillon to interview inhabitants of an apartment building in the centre of the town, after they agreed to talk about their hopes and fears and political choices, shedding light on the tensions and dissatisfaction that may well drive a far-right victory in nationwide municipal elections next year, and presidential and parliamentary elections due in 2027.
Félix Kir was a priest, an honorary canon, briefly a journalist, a one-time supporter of the wartime collaborationist leader Marshal Philippe Pétain before joining with the Resistance, a cassock-wearing Member of Parliament and mayor of the town of Dijon, a conservative anti-Gaullist who was admired by USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev. Ordinary he was not. In this, one of a series of articles about some of the most unusual, stand-out characters in the history of France’s parliament, Pierre Januel traces Kir’s extraordinary life and career (and whose legacy includes the eponymous apéritif).
Mediapart is publishing a series of reports regularly sent to it from inside the Gaza Strip by two young Palestinians. Nour Elassy, a 22-year-old journalist, who is also a poet and writer, and Ibrahim Badra, a 23-year-old journalist and human rights activist, chronicle the grim reality of life and death in Gaza. “The word 'massacre' passes through the ears of Gazans like a morning greeting with a dark tone,” writes Ibrahim Badra in this, his third contribution. “We ask 'where is so-and-so?' knowing already the answer. The word no longer arouses astonishment or shock. It has become part of our daily lexicon.”
Presenting the key features of the government’s planned draft legislation for the 2026 budget on Tuesday, French Prime Minister François Bayrou adopted a grim, alarmist style, warning that the country was in “mortal danger” at this “critical moment”, his measures representing a “last stop before the cliff” and the “crushing of France by debt”, justifying budget cuts totalling a massive 44 billion euros. Mathias Thépot reports.
