Former Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo rejects criminal charges in school abuse scandal

Response to criminal complaint

Former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo spoke publicly on Wednesday on France Inter to address a criminal complaint filed against her by approximately 15 families. The legal filing, submitted at the end of the previous week, accuses Hidalgo and her mayoral successor, Emmanuel Grégoire, of failure to assist persons in danger regarding sexual violence committed against children during extracurricular school programs. Hidalgo, who led the French capital from 2014 to 2026, spoke for the first time on the matter since stepping down from office. During the broadcast, she contested the legal basis of the complaint, arguing that all documented actions contradict allegations of negligence and stating that the facts do not meet the threshold of a criminal offense.

I stand alongside the victims' families, I share their pain.

Extracurricular crisis in Paris schools

The legal complaint follows reports of sexual abuse committed by extracurricular staff members against elementary school students across the capital. The controversy escalated in spring 2025 when new allegations surfaced in schools located in the 7th, 11th, and 15th arrondissements. While municipal representatives held informational meetings with parents inside the affected educational institutions, Hidalgo did not attend any of the sessions. She acknowledged that she understands the sense of abandonment felt by parents and expressed regret for not attending those meetings in person. She stated that City Hall was concurrently working to structure an institutional response while she was involved in a complex municipal election campaign.

As mayor of Paris, knowing that despite all the processes, everything we put in place, everything we did to support victims speaking out, predators slipped through the cracks of a net and sexually assaulted children, it is a wound and a pain.

Screening procedures and the 2015 audit

Hidalgo defended the preventive mechanisms established during her administration, rejecting allegations that municipal authorities left internal recommendations unheeded. When initial reports of abuse emerged in 2015, the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris conducted an internal review at her direct request. She dismissed assertions that the findings of the 2015 report were ignored, calling those claims totally false. According to Hidalgo, the city reached an agreement with the public prosecutor in 2015 to grant municipal services access to official sex offender registries. She stated that the municipality subsequently maintained three distinct vetting filters for screening and recruiting extracurricular monitors.

Senate inquiry and legal accountability

The extracurricular scandal will move to the national legislative level next week when Hidalgo appears for a hearing before a Senate inquiry committee. Her successor, Emmanuel Grégoire, who previously served as her first deputy mayor during her tenure, remains named alongside her in the legal action. Hidalgo did not issue an apology or formal mea culpa during the interview, maintaining that she responded to parent letters and acted to protect children during her 12 years in office. She stated that accountability requires a strict examination of administrative facts rather than political exploitation of the victims' suffering.

The families do not need an instrumentalization of their pain, they need truth.