Calls for France ex-minister to resign over Epstein ties

France's foreign minister said Friday he had summoned former minister Jack Lang to a weekend meeting, as calls mounted for Lang to resign as head of a leading French cultural institute over his ties to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Lang, 86, is the most high-profile French figure caught up in the latest US release of documents linked to the financier who killed himself in 2019 while in prison facing charges of sex trafficking underage girls.

A mere mention in the files does not imply wrongdoing.

French media reports said Lang, who heads the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris, repeatedly appealed to Epstein for funds or favours, while his daughter's name appears in the company files of an offshore company co-owned with the disgraced US tycoon.

His daughter Caroline Lang, a film producer, resigned on Monday as head of the Independent Production Union.

Lang, who spent nearly 20 years as culture minister and education minister in different governments, has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes despite his conviction in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

On Wednesday, he refused to step down as president of the cultural hub focused on the Arabic-speaking world.

Pressure has increased however and the foreign ministry -- which provides half of the institute's budget -- has ordered him to a meeting.

"He has been summoned by the ministry and will be received on Sunday," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP on a visit to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Speaking later from Beirut, he added: "The first elements emerging from these files are new and extremely serious" and would require in-depth examination.

But his priority, he said, was to ensure the proper running of the IMA.

The 12.3 million euros ($14.5 million) the IMA receives annually from the foreign ministry accounts for half of the institute's budget.

- Calls to resign -

Lang did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, but his lawyer Laurent Merlet said Sunday's meeting was merely one with his supervisory authority.

"The purpose is to understand his side of the story," he said, rejecting the notion that the Epstein files proved any "close bonds of friendship".

A source in Lang's circle said he was in Morocco's city of Marrakesh on Friday.

Politicians -- even within Lang's Socialist ranks -- have said he should step down.

Socialist party leader Olivier Faure urged Lang to "think about resigning to protect the institution he presides".

A source in the president's office said Lang should be "thinking about the institution" he has headed since 2013.

The IMA's board of directors -- made up in equal measure of ambassadors from Arab countries and figures chosen by the foreign ministry -- appointed him and has renewed his tenure three times.