Frederic Mitterrand has rejected criticism from the far right A French politician has refused to quit over comments that he enjoyed paying for "young boys" in Thailand.
Frederic Mitterrand, the culture minister, denied that passages of his book, The Bad Life, described sexual encounters with under-age boys.
Interviewed on French TV, he condemned sex tourism, paedophilia, and said he paid for sex with men his own age.
Mr Mitterrand, nephew of late President Francois Mitterrand, faced criticism from left and right in recent weeks.
His book returned to the headlines after he made an impassioned defence of film director Roman Polanski, who was recently arrested in Switzerland on child sex charges.
Condemnation
Mr Mitterrand appeared on a French TV news programme on Thursday evening visibly angry and far from apologetic.
He insisted he retained the confidence of current President Nicolas Sarkozy and said he had not offered to resign over the controversy.
"I absolutely condemn sexual tourism [and] I condemn paedophilia in which I have never in any way participated, and all the people who accuse me of that type of thing should be ashamed," Mr Mitterrand said.
His comments were little-noticed when the book was written four years ago, before Mr Mitterrand joined the government.
Instead of generating controversy Mr Mitterrand's work received few comments other than literary praise.
When he was appointed to the French government in June 2009 Mr Sarkozy described his new minister as "talented and courageous".