The Economist October 9th 2021 Europe 51
P
oliticians’privatefinancesarea big
politicalissueincentralEurope,as
AndrejBabiswellknows.MrBabis,a
billionairewhoisprimeministerofthe
CzechRepublic,facesa generalelection
onOctober8thand9th.A weekbeforeit,
theInternationalConsortiumofIn
vestigativeJournalists,a reporters’alli
ance,releasedanextravaganzaofleaks
from 14 financialfirms,whichit called
the“PandoraPapers”.ItchargesthatMr
Babistransferred$22mthroughshell
companiesintheBritishVirginIslands
(bvi), a taxhaven,inordertobuya villa
nearCannesanonymously.MrBabiswas
alreadyfacingyearslonginvestigations
overallegedconflictsofinterestand
improperreceiptofeusubsidiesby
Agrofert,anagriculturalbusinesshe
founded.Hedeniesanywrongdoing.
MrBabiswasnottheonlypolitician
tagged. Wopke Hoekstra, the Nether
lands’ finance minister, was shown to
have invested €26,500 ($30,500) in a
friend’s safari company, also through a
shell company in the bvi. Mr Hoekstra
kept his shares while serving as a senator
but sold them before becoming a min
ister, and broke no laws. But his Chris
tian Democratic party has officially
promised to take “firm action” against
the use of tax havens.
Like the consortium’s earlier in
vestigations (which include the Panama
Papers in 2016 and the Paradise Papers in
2017), the Pandora Papers show that
secretive financial networks that can aid
tax avoidance and moneylaundering
involve not just countries typically seen
as corrupt, but many of those viewed as
cleanly governed. Russians, Saudis and
Americans are all heavily represented in
the leaks. Besides the British Virgin
Islands, the jurisdictions they used
include Luxembourg and South Dakota.
For the politicians concerned, the
leaks are embarrassing but not devastat
ing. The Netherlands has been mired in
coalition talks for more than six months,
but Mr Hoekstra seems likely to keep his
job. As for Mr Babis, he is a skilled popu
list whose supporters tolerate the accu
sations against him. His party is in first
place in the polls. According to a survey,
twothirds of Czechs think the govern
ment is run mainly by private interests.
But whereas Czechs complain that their
politicians are dirty, they do not seem to
bother to elect cleaner ones.
ThePandoraPapers
Embarrassingriches
A MSTERDAM
Shellcompanies,taxhavensandEuropeanpoliticians
Franceanditschurch
The weight of
silence
T
hesheernumberwasoverwhelming.
Between 1950 and 2020 atleast216,000
childrenweresexuallyabusedinFranceby
Catholicclergy.Thus,onOctober5th,con
cluded a twoyear independent inquiry
commissionedbythechurch.JeanMarc
Sauvé,wholedit,saidituncovered“the
lead weight of silence smothering the
crimes”committedby2,9003,200clergy.
Iflaymolestersinvolvedinchurchactivi
tieswere also included, the number of
abusedcouldreach330,000.
MrSauvé’sintroductiontothereportis
chilling and unflinching: “The Catholic
church’simmediatereactionwastopro
tectitself asan institution”andit“has
showncomplete,evencruel,indifference
tothosewhosuffered”.About90%ofthe
victimswereboys,manybetweentenand
13 yearsold.Hecalledfor“ahumbleac
knowledgementofresponsibilityfromthe
church authoritiesforthe mistakesand
crimescommittedunderitsauspices”.
Aswasrevealedbyreportsintosexual
abuse by Catholic clergy elsewhere, the
crimesinFranceinvolveda sinisterwebof
misplaced trust, manipulated authority,
concealment, silence and shame. The
abusewascountrywide:inlocalparishes,
scoutgroups,catechismclassesandwith
infamilies.PopeFrancisexpressed“great
sorrow”forthevictims.FrançoisDevaux,
whosufferedsexualabuseattheageoften
andlaterfoundeda victimsgroup,called
whattheyhadgonethroughsimply“hell”.
It wastheeffortsofsurvivorssuchasMr
Devaux that forced the church to confront
its denials and coverups. He and others
came forward in 2015 to accuse Bernard
Preynat, a priest and scout leader, of sexual
abuse. Mr Preynat was convicted last year.
In 2019 the accusations prompted the res
ignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin,
convicted of covering up the Preynat affair
(the conviction was overturned on appeal).
France has an unusual link with Cathol
icism, due to strict secular rules, known as
laïcité, designed to keep the state neutral in
religious affairs. It lacks the wide network
of churchlinked boarding schools and
state institutions that helped to conceal
paedophilia in some other countries. Yet
this proved no protection for the victims.
Today the Catholic church in France is a
hollowedout version of its former self.
Numbering 12,000, the priesthood is half
what it was 20 years ago—and half of those
serving are over 75. Only 49% of the French
say they believe in God. Two years ago 56%
said in one survey that they had a bad im
age of the Catholic church. This week’s re
port will entrench these trends.
The church is not the only French arena
in which denial of sexual abuse has been
exposed. Another is politics, where, until
#MeToo, sexual violence towards women
tended to be hushed up. Two recent books
also reveal how members of LeftBank Pa
risian circles deployed the principle of sex
ual liberty to mask abuse and incest. By ex
posing the manipulation and cruelty of the
predators, those brave enough tospeakout
may in future help prevent such abuse
from going undetected for so long. n
P ARIS
A staggering pattern of sexual abuse
Great sorrow