The appointment of Jack Lang in 2013 to the presidency of the financially troubled Arab World Institute first triggered controversy over his remuneration, then over his management and high operating expenses, alongside declining attendance.
Jack Lang, former French Minister of Culture, is resigning as president of the prestigious Arab World Institute. His past ties with American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the opening of a financial investigation have led him to take this step back. It is a muted end for this monument of French politics, who built his entire career within the Socialist Party under the presidencies of François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. Famous for launching the concept of the Fête de la Musique (Music Day) in the 1980s, Jack Lang had presided over the Arab World Institute since 2013.
The pressure was too great: this veteran of French politics is throwing in the towel. Jack Lang, 86 years old, is offering his resignation. The French financial prosecutor’s office, the entity responsible for fighting major economic crime, has opened a preliminary investigation targeting him and his daughter Caroline for suspicion of aggravated tax fraud and money laundering.
Suspicions of Fraud
In recent days, calls for Jack Lang’s resignation have intensified following the publication of documents by the US Department of Justice on January 30. These documents reveal that Jeffrey Epstein and Jack Lang maintained intermittent correspondence between 2012 and 2019, the year the financier died by suicide in prison.
No charges have been brought against Jack Lang at this stage, but the mention of his name 673 times in exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein has led the Elysée (presidential office) and Matignon (prime minister’s office) to wish for him to step aside. Jack Lang was summoned to explain himself this Sunday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which supervises the Arab World Institute, a cultural and research organization working for the understanding of the Arab world.
The former minister denies any wrongdoing. He denounces « inaccurate accusations » and claims he was unaware of the criminal past of the American financier, who died in prison in 2019. He hopes the investigation will clear him of all suspicion: « The accusations leveled against me are unfounded, and I will prove it, beyond the media frenzy and digital tribunals. »
On Monday, his daughter Caroline Lang, an emblematic figure in the media, resigned from her position as president of the Syndicat de la Production Indépendante (SPI – Independent Producers Union) after the revelation of her links with Epstein.
The Sciences Po and Theater Years
The journey of Jack Mathieu Émile Lang began on September 2, 1939, in the Vosges, into a wealthy atheist Jewish family from Nancy. The family spent the war in Brive-la-Gaillarde in Corrèze and Bordeaux. His studies in political science and law opened an academic career for him in Nancy and then at Paris X-Nanterre.
Simultaneously, Jack Lang thrived in theater as an actor and organizer of the Nancy University Theater Festival in the 1960s until 1973. He was then entrusted by President Pompidou with the directorship of the Théâtre National de Chaillot in 1972, but was dismissed in 1974, « a victim of his freedom of speech, » according to him.
Ousted under Giscard d’Estaing by his new Minister of Culture, Michel Guy, Jack Lang received support from big names like Jean-Christophe Averty, Michel Piccoli, Dario Fo, and Patrice Chéreau. He staged his farewell to the theater with a reception where he appeared relaxed, shirt collar open, in the company of his new mentor: François Mitterrand.
Mitterrand Devotee
Jack Lang’s political career, fueled by his father’s radical Masonic commitment, began that year, alongside the socialist who would go on to win the 1981 presidential election.
His domain was culture: the man described as the « Minister of Culture for life » began handling it within the Socialist Party in 1977. Jack Lang also got himself elected to the city council of Paris’s 3rd arrondissement and campaigned against the redevelopment of Les Halles in Paris, a vast real estate project in the heart of the capital. The transformation of the site began with the controversial destruction of the Baltard pavilions in 1971 to make way for a shopping center and an underground station. But the construction dragged on so long that the « hole » of Les Halles became a major issue in Paris for decades.
He finally burst onto the national stage in 1981, appointed Minister of Culture, a position he would hold for 10 years under all the socialist governments of François Mitterrand’s two seven-year terms (1981-1986 and 1988-1993).
He also served as Minister of National Education (1992-1993 and then 2000-2002), where each time he had to calm spirits and reform by consensus. Between these mandates, during periods of cohabitation, Professor Lang returned to teaching at Nanterre.
The Major Cultural Projects
Jack Lang transformed his ministry into a « beehive, » in his own words. He wanted to democratize culture by opening it up to « minor » arts, like rock, rap, fashion, circus, street arts, or comics.
For the first time in France, the share dedicated to culture rose to 1% of the national budget. This led to the creation of a National Center for Circus Arts, a National School of Photography, the development of aid for cinema and theater, and the fixed book price. He also defended radio airplay quotas for French-language songs and encouraged patronage through tax incentives.
His stroke of genius was undoubtedly the creation of the Fête de la Musique in 1982, a successful concept adopted abroad. He repeated the formula with Heritage Days two years later, then Cinema Day in 1985 and « La fureur de lire » (The Fury of Reading) in 1989.
He also served the will of his president, François Mitterrand, to leave his mark through grand projects: these included the Grand Louvre, the Grande Arche de la Défense, the Opéra Bastille, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and of course the Arab World Institute. In the provinces too, projects followed one another, giving contemporary architecture a chance to express itself with Jean Nouvel or Christian de Portzamparc.
Theater and dance centers were decentralized, Regional Funds for Contemporary Art were established, and big names were hired like Patrice Chéreau, Giorgio Strehler, Rudolf Nureyev, Philippe Starck, Jean-Paul Goude…
The National Center for Comics and Images in Angoulême, La Fémis (the national film school), that’s him too. His era saw the opening of the airwaves, the multiplication of TV channels, and the establishment of a High Authority for Audiovisual Regulation.
The budget for historical monuments also doubled, and preventive archaeological excavations became the rule for building permits.
Jack Lang thought big and in 1988, he even proposed to François Mitterrand the creation of a « Ministry of Beauty and Intelligence » that would combine the departments of Culture, Communication, and Research, but the project never came to fruition.
A Creative in Politics
A modernizer, a renovator, Jack Lang rallied cultural figures to the socialist cause. He created jobs throughout the sector and recognized the link between culture and the economy. Criticized by the opposition who labeled him a demagogue, he was followed by the public. He was seen as the most fun and celebrity-like of French politicians, as illustrated by this very rare appearance of a politician on the show « Hep Taxi. »
Elegance and eloquence were his trademarks, but behind the publicly gifted communicator, Jack Lang was a hard worker, creative and imaginative.
The Mitterrand-era minister also seized upon social movements, defending gay rights very early on or creating the Techno Parade in 1998.
Jack Lang was thus active well beyond the cultural sphere. His political struggle led him to become a deputy for Loir-et-Cher and Pas-de-Calais, mayor of Blois (1989-2000), a European MP, and president of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee. In 1993, he was re-elected as a deputy but was automatically dismissed and made ineligible for one year by a decision of the Constitutional Council, following irregularities in his campaign accounts, but was re-elected in 1997.
Only the presidential nomination for his party eluded him, in 1995 (Manuel Valls campaigned against him) and 2007. He also abandoned the race for mayor of Paris in 2000 to join the Jospin government.
Rumors and Investigations Closed Without Action
Lang’s outspokenness led him to call Donald Trump a « shitty president » or to denounce in 2021 the « cultural McCarthyism » that allegedly forced the resignation of Paris councilman Christophe Girard for his ties with Gabriel Matzneff, who is under investigation for the rape of minors.
His detractors – anonymous and often far-right – target him with rumors of pedophilia, which he calls « abject. » The Coral affair (a care center for children with Down syndrome), Rosella Hightower (a dance school in Cannes), a police raid in Marrakech during an orgy in a villa in the palm grove with young boys: so many cases closed without action.
But the rumors pursue him because Jack Lang has offered support to various personalities accused in pedophilia cases, as in 1977, when he signed a petition in Le Monde calling for the release of adults accused of indecent assault on minors. Since then, he has made amends, speaking of « stupidity » and a « faulty libertarian vision » from a ’68er.
Rumors can hurt: in Jack Lang’s case, it was an assault at the Opéra Garnier in 2025 by activists against child sexual abuse. Thrown to the ground by a person, the former minister was left with injuries to his knees and arms. His assailant was convicted.
His appointment in 2013 to the presidency of the financially troubled Arab World Institute first triggered controversy over his remuneration, then over his management and high operating expenses, alongside declining attendance.
Other affairs have cast a less favorable light on the recent years of « Jack of Arabia, » as he is sometimes nicknamed. In March 2019, L’Obs revealed gifts worth nearly 195,000 euros in suits and trousers from the tailor Smalto, information confirmed by a search at the headquarters of the Italian ready-to-wear company which revealed in its ledgers favours worth up to 500,000 euros. But the preliminary investigation resulted in a quiet closure without action on April 13, 2023.
It is ultimately the appearance of his name in the « Epstein files » that will cause Jack Lang’s fall from his last position of responsibility, the presidency of the Arab World Institute.
Source : RTBF
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