Former French PM Balladur Dies at 97
Former French prime minister and 1995 presidential candidate, Balladur was remembered as a reform-minded statesman after his death at 97.
- Former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur died in Paris on Monday at age 97, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced, with the family confirming a private mass service.
- Balladur served as prime minister from March 1993 to May 1995 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, leading the so-called "second cohabitation" government within the Fifth Republic.
- Born in 1929 in Turkey to a family of Armenian origin, Balladur moved to Marseille in 1934, later studying at Sciences Po and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration before advising Georges Pompidou.
- French President Emmanuel Macron honored Balladur as a "demanding, level-headed, and devoted public servant," while Marine Le Pen shared condolences; Balladur had run for president in 1995, losing to Lionel Jospin and Jacques Chirac.
- Lecornu described Balladur as a "statesman with a reformist spirit" who "will remain a role model," and political figures acknowledged his consistent service to the Republic and respect for democratic debate.
105 Articles
105 Articles
Former Prime Minister Édouard Balladur died Monday in Paris at the age of 97, announced his family at the AFP.
Former French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur has died at the age of 97, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports, citing the politician's family. Édouard Balladur led the government from 1993 to 1995, under the presidency of François Hollande.
The conservative was a central figure of Gaullist and led the government during the cohabitation with Mitterrand. The presidential candidacy that opposed Chirac would define his legacy.
Balladur took part in the 1995 presidential election against Chirac, a power struggle that split the conservatives and ended his political career.
It was a power struggle that split the conservatives in France: in open competition with the conservative party leader Chirac Balladur moved into the presidential campaign in 1995 - then his career ended. Now the former Prime Minister has died.
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