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The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Perrier owner scrutinised after France reportedly covered up illegal water filter treatment
France's lucrative mineral water industry is under scrutiny after a report by the senate found the French government had covered up a scandal over illegal filtering treatments of premium brands. At the heart of the report, released on Monday, is France's world-famous fizzy water, Perrier. Obtained from a source in southern France and traditionally served on ice with a slice of lemon, Perrier has long been long known as the 'champagne of table waters'. But the report said the Swiss food giant Nestlé, which acquired the brand in the early 1990s, had used purification filtering treatments that were not authorised for products labelled as 'natural mineral water'. The senators said the 'highest levels' of the French government had been alerted to the filtering treatments by Nestlé itself, but had failed to act quickly or to alert legal authorities. The senate report said that President Emmanuel Macron's office at the Élysée 'had known, at least since 2022, that Nestlé had been cheating for years'. Senators stressed there had been 'no proven health risk to consumers'. But they said that consumers and local authorities had been misled. The report said: 'In addition to Nestlé Waters' lack of transparency, it is important to highlight the state's lack of transparency, both towards local and European authorities and towards the French people.' The report found that government advisers handled the issue, but Élisabeth Borne, the then prime minister, appeared 'not to have been informed' . EU regulations strictly limit what treatments are allowed for any product marketed as 'natural mineral water'. Tap water is filtered and treated. But natural mineral water – which sells for 100–400 times the price of tap water – must be processed naturally and cannot be disinfected or treated in any way that alters its characteristics. France is one of the world leaders in natural mineral water production, with 104 natural sites across the country, a market worth €2.7bn (£2.3bn) and more than 41,000 direct and indirect jobs. But the industry was shaken in 2019 when a whistleblower raised an alert about one producer, Sources Alma – whose brands include Cristaline and Vichy Célestins –allegedly using non-authorised treatments to micro-filter the water. A representative of Sources Alma later told the senate committee it had not used illegal treatments and its water was safe. The senate report said that, after the whistleblower's warning, Nestlé Waters, whose brands include Vittel and Perrier, had voluntarily contacted the French government in 2021 – and later the president's office – to say it had used filtering treatments. It submitted a plan to tackle the issue, which was later approved by the authorities. Alexis Kohler, then secretary general of Macron's office at the Élysée, had met Nestlé executives, according to senators. But he declined to give evidence to the senate committee. In February, Macron denied any knowledge of the case. The senate said the relationship between Nestlé and the government became so close that the wording of a state report on water had been altered to fit with Nestlé's requests. The Socialist senator Alexandre Ouizille, who led the six-month senate committee on mineral water said this was 'Inexplainable, inexcusable, incomprehensible'. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Antoinette Guhl, a Green senator who had also worked on the report, said it was 'a state scandal' that damaged trust between politicians and consumers. In 2024, Nestlé Waters admitted using banned filters and ultraviolet treatment on mineral waters. It said it had always defended the safety of its products and had been transparent to authorities. It denied having put pressure on government. The company paid a €2m fine to avoid legal action over the use of illegal water sources and filtering. It said at the time that that the replacement filters were approved by the government and that its water was 'pure'. Foodwatch, an independent food monitoring NGO, has filed a complaint against Nestlé Waters, accusing it of deceiving consumers. An investigation has been launched by a judge in Paris. Nestlé Waters' chief executive, Muriel Lienau, stated during her hearing before the senate committee in March, that all of the group's waters were 'pure at the source'. In a statement to AFP, Lienau said she acknowledged the senate report, which 'recognises the importance of sectoral issues requiring regulatory clarification and a stable framework applicable to all'. Nestlé Waters also insisted that it had 'never contested' the legitimacy of the senate's work.
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
France's premier faces questions from an inquiry on a Catholic school abuse scandal
French Prime Minister François Bayrou was set to face questions Wednesday from a parliamentary inquiry into alleged abuse at a Catholic school amid accusations that he has hidden what he knows about the scandal. Lawmakers at the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, are expected to ask Bayrou what he knew about allegations of physical and sexual abuse over five decades at the private Catholic school Notre-Dame de Bétharram, near the town of Pau in southwestern France. Bayrou is a longtime and prominent elected official in that region and a number of his children attended the school. He has been the mayor of Pau since 2014 and continues to hold that office since becoming prime minister five months ago. He has been a member of parliament from that area for about 20 years and was the national education minister from 1993 to 1997. Over 200 complaints have been formally filed since February 2024 over alleged abuse at the school, including dozens of alleged rapes by priests, said Alain Esquerre, the spokesperson for a group of victims. The scandal took a political turn when Bayrou told the National Assembly in February that he had never been informed of abuse at the school until recent years. A few days later, he said he actually had been aware of 'a slap' by a school supervisor in 1996 when he was education minister, leading him to commission a report. Political opponents have accused him of having lied to parliament. Bayrou has links to the school on a personal level because several of his six children attended the school and his wife used to teach catechism there. In 1998, Father Carricart, the school's former director from 1987 to 1993, was handed preliminary charges of rape against children under 18 and placed in custody. A judge who handled that case told the parliament's inquiry commission that he had a meeting with Bayrou at the time, during which the politician expressed concern about his son, who was a student at the school. Carricart committed suicide in 2000 before a trial could be held. Bayrou's eldest daughter, Hélène Perlant, last month revealed she was among children who were abused, saying a priest beat her at summer camp when she was 14. Now 53, Perlant said she never talked about it to her father or anyone else until the recent release of a book in which she tells her story. 'I remained silent for 30 years,' she said. Esquerre, the spokesperson for the victims, himself a former student and victim of abuse, told the inquiry commission in March that 'it was a time of terror, and no one could imagine that we were in the hands of priests who were also the aggressors.' Showing a printout with a list of names, Esquerre said : 'I am holding here a list of all the priests over the last 70 years, all of them aggressors, all these priests. And so, there still is a number of victims who will little by little, of course, join the already substantial number of plaintiffs.'
