Pressure is mounting on France’s former Socialist Party culture minister Jack Lang to resign as President of the Arab World Institute (IMA) after his name appeared in the files relating to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Since the disclosure of past contacts and meetings between Lang and Epstein, the former minister has defended himself, citing good faith and “naivety”.
That has been dismissed by several political figures, prompting calls from across the political spectrum for him to step down as chief of the IMA, a showcase for the Arab World in Paris.
His predecessor as head of the IMA and now President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Renaud Muselier, also called on him to step down.
“I consider Jack Lang’s position to be particularly damaging to the institution. I therefore invite him to leave, rather than be forced to resign,” he said yesterday.
According to documents released by the US Department of Justice on January 30, Lang was among the figures who corresponded with Epstein. The files include email exchanges concerning invitations to meet, including at the IMA.
Lang, who served as a minister for two terms from 1981–1986 and 1988–1993, has said he met Epstein in 2013 through a mutual friend, filmmaker Woody Allen and described Epstein as an “acquaintance”.
Lang has said he was unaware of Epstein’s prior conviction in 2008 at the time they met and said he was “stunned” when he later learned of what he described as “abominable crimes”.
He added that he did not regret having known Epstein. “I am not in the habit of badmouthing people I once knew who are later accused of crimes,” he said on French television yesterday.
French investigative outlet Mediapart reported the Lang family’s links to Epstein may have been more extensive than previously known.
According to documents reviewed by the publication, Lang’s daughter set up an offshore company registered in the Virgin Islands with Epstein.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced his centre-left coalition government is forming a special task force to examine any Polish links to the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal. https://t.co/tyHP5V9eAS
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) February 4, 2026
The political fallout from the Epstein files is only beginning in France.
Several French public figures are named in the documents, including former economy minister Bruno Le Maire, mathematician-turned-MP Cédric Villani and others.
The leftt-wing party La France Insoumise has called for the creation of a cross-party parliamentary inquiry into the Epstein affair. That would be aimed at shedding light on any links that may fall “within the political sphere, foreign interference, or political party financing.”
The party says such an inquiry would also help prevent the spread of conspiracy theories.
