Petition Cancels Cohn-Bendit Event Over Past Pro-Pedophilia Remarks
A book event in southern France featuring former Green politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit was cancelled after over 7,200 people signed a petition condemning his decades-old comments about child sexuality.
The June 30 presentation at Montpellier’s municipal Salle Pétrarque was meant to promote Cohn-Bendit’s new work Souvenirs d’un apatride, according to Brussels Signal.
Bérengère Dubus, a local resident and founder of France’s first national union for mortgage and finance brokers, launched the Change.org petition that ultimately forced the cancellation. She characterised the city’s decision to host Cohn-Bendit as an insult to all victims and a blank cheque for paedophilia.
Dubus, who leads the Union des Intermédiaires de Crédit and has been active on issues including child protection and family policy, wrote in her petition description: “Invite Cohn-Bendit to talk about Europe? And why not Epstein to talk about finances?”
The petition drew swift backing across the political spectrum, underscoring the enduring controversy surrounding the German-French political figure.
Inflammatory Statements from the 1970s and 1980s
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a co-founder of the German Green Party and longtime Member of the European Parliament representing French Greens, has faced recurring criticism over statements he made during the 1970s and early 1980s.
In his 1975 book Le Grand Bazar, Cohn-Bendit recounted what he described as erotic encounters with children while employed at an alternative kindergarten in Frankfurt.
Seven years later, during a 1982 appearance on the French television programme Apostrophes, he remarked: “The sexuality of a kid is absolutely fantastic, you have to be honest. When a little girl of five starts undressing you, it’s fantastic, it’s an erotic-maniac game.”
Cohn-Bendit has consistently claimed these passages were provocative fantasies shaped by the anti-authoritarian climate of the era. He has insisted he never engaged in sexual abuse, and former parents and children from the kindergarten have publicly supported him.
Despite these defences, the statements have resurfaced periodically and continue to provoke outrage.
The German Greens and the Paedophilia Debate
Cohn-Bendit’s history is intertwined with a broader and deeply troubling chapter in German Green Party politics. During the late 1970s and 1980s, certain factions within the party advocated for the decriminalisation of some forms of adult-child sexual contact.
The party has since formally expressed regret over this period and repudiated those positions.
A Vocal Euro-Federalist
Beyond the scandals, Cohn-Bendit has been a leading voice for European federalism. In 2012, he co-authored the book For Europe with Guy Verhofstadt, arguing for a post-national federal Europe with strengthened EU institutions, a European government, and diminished national veto powers.
He remains a celebrated figure among May 1968 activists and euro-federalist circles, though his legacy is increasingly contested in light of his past remarks.
With information from Brussels Signal
