STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/LE MONDE
Amid a media firestorm and widespread public concern in France following revelations about former minister Jack Lang's connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who met on Thursday, February 5, asked Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to summon the president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA, Arab World Institute) to provide an "explanation." "It is up to the government to appoint the president of the Institut du Monde Arabe, through the Foreign Ministry," the prime minister's office pointed out.
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Epstein's correspondence reveals links to French public figures
While the government does not need to comment on the merits of the case, it expects Lang to clarify the emails implicating him among the millions of documents linked to the Epstein scandal. Lang, whose name appears 673 times, should "think about the institution," meaning the IMA, the emblematic cultural body he had led since 2013, Elysée sources added. While currently traveling in Marrakech, Morocco, Lang is expected to appear on Sunday at the Foreign Ministry to provide his explanation.
