France – DNA Nov. 27, 2025
Approached by the association SOS Otages — which includes Lyon native Benjamin Brière, a former hostage in Iran — MEP Jean-Marc Germain has committed to mobilizing members across European Parliament groups to secure the upcoming adoption of a resolution urging the European Commission to legislate on the status of hostages and their relatives.
Since its creation in 2004, SOS Otages, which defends the interests of victims of hostage-taking and their families, has been fighting for the establishment of a real legal status granting rights upon their return to France. “Nothing is provided for us, nor for the relatives who supported us and in some cases sacrificed their jobs to do so,” explains one of its members, Lyon resident Benjamin Brière, who was released in May 2023 after three years of “arbitrary detention” in an Iranian prison. “We receive no psychological support, nor any assistance in the areas of social protection, housing, taxes, or training.”
Having failed so far to convince the French government or French lawmakers to introduce a bill in this direction, the association, chaired by Ingrid Betancourt, is now turning to the European Parliament (EP). There, it has found new support within the Socialists and Democrats group: “I took part in gatherings calling for the release of [Alsatian] Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris,” says MEP Jean-Marc Germain, who is also a member of the French Socialist Party’s national bureau. “That is how I discovered, with astonishment, that there is no legal framework facilitating the return to a normal life for former hostages, even though they were used as bargaining tools by foreign powers.”
“France is the most targeted state, but not the only one”
On Thursday, following a meeting with Benjamin Brière on the sidelines of the EP’s monthly session in Strasbourg, Jean-Marc Germain committed to rallying the different parliamentary groups in order to secure the adoption of a resolution calling on the European Commission to present a draft directive on the issue. “Once the directive has been approved, it will then have to be transposed into national laws, which will take some time,” he warned.
