By DPA,
Paris : French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand, who was one of director Roman Polanski’s first supporters, has come under pressure after being accused of paedophilia, French media reported Thursday.
The cause is an autobiography Mitterand wrote in 2005 in which he described travelling abroad to have paid sex with young men.
The controversy broke out earlier in the week when the daughter of right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen read excerpts from the book on a television talk show devoted to Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland for a 32-year-old conviction for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Mitterand was one of Polanski’s earliest and most vocal supporters following the film maker’s arrest. However, Marine Le Pen said Mitterand himself was a paedophile, basing it on several excerpts from his book La Mauvaise Vie (The Bad Life).
Among the passages she read was the following: “The profusion of very attractive and immediately available young boys puts me in a state of desire that I no longer have a need to brake or dim.”
The weekly Le Point published additional extracts from the book on its web site Thursday, such as: “I can evaluate, imagine, tell myself stories regarding each boy; they are there for that, and I am too. I can finally choose. I have what I have never had, I have the choice.”
According to Le Point, President Nicolas Sarkozy read La Mauvaise Vie before naming Mitterand as his culture minister.
Nothing in any of the excerpts cited suggests that the “young boys” with whom Mitterand apparently had sex were minors. However, the growing controversy, and the appearance that he was defending sex tourism, has mobilized the opposition and embarrassed the government.
Labour Minister Xavier Darcos told France Inter radio Thursday that Mitterand must respond to the accusations “other than with indignation”.
Socialist Benoit Hamon told Canal Plus television: “The question now is if Frederic Mitterand should resign or not.”
Mitterand has come under fire for his support of Polanski. On Wednesday he said he reacted “too emotionally” because he had just spoken on the telephone with Polanski’s wife, the actress Emmanuelle Seigner.