Édouard Balladur

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Édouard Balladur

Prime Minister of France
In office 29 March 1993 – 10 May 1995
Preceded by	Pierre Bérégovoy
Succeeded by	Alain Juppé

Born	May 02, 1929 (age 77) İzmir, Turkey
Political party	UMP
Religion	Roman Catholic

Édouard Balladur (born 2 May 1929) is a French right-wing politician. He served as Prime Minister during the second "cohabitation", under François Mitterrand, from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.

[edit] Biography

Born in İzmir, Turkey, Édouard Balladur's parents emigrated to Marseille in 1935 along with their five children. In 1957, he married Marie-Josèphe Delacour with whom he had four sons. He is a Roman Catholic. In 2006 he announced that he would not run again for re-election in 2007 as a member of Parliament for the 15th arrondissement of Paris, a conservative stronghold.

He started his career in 1964 as advisor of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. After Pompidou's election as President of France in 1969, Balladur was appointed under secretary general of the presidency then secretary general from 1973 to Georges Pompidou's death in 1974.

He returned to politics in the 1980s with Jacques Chirac. Member of the Neo-Gaullist party Rally for the Republic (RPR), he was the theoretician of the "cohabitation". Indeed, he explained if the right won the legislative election, it could govern without Socialist President François Mitterrand resignation. This situation took place from 1986 to 1988. As Minister of Economy of Finance, he sold off a large number of public companies and abolished the wealth tax. He took a major part in the adoption of liberal and pro-European policies by Chirac and the RPR.

Since Jacques Chirac refused to renew "cohabitation" with President Mitterrand, Edouard Balladur served as Prime Minister after the 1993 legislative election. He was faced with a difficult economic situation but he did not wanted made the political errors of the previous "cohabitation". If he failed to impose his project of minimum income for youngs, he led a moderate liberal policy in economy. Conveying an image of quiet conservative, he did not question the wealth tax. He became very popular and had the support of influential media. The most part of the right-wing politicians advised him to run for the 1995 presidency, notwithstanding his promise not to campaign against Jacques Chirac.

When he announced his candidacy, 4 months before the election, he was considered like favourite. In the polls, he led Chirac of almost 20 points. In position of outsider, Chirac criticized Balladur as the representing of the "dominant ideas" and the difference decreased quickly. Left behind the Socialist Lionel Jospin and Jacques Chirac, he obtained 18.5% and was eliminated in the first round. Despite Chirac and his declaring that they had been "friends for 30 years", the episode greatly strained their relationship. The Balladuriens, i.e. Balladur's followers, such as Nicolas Sarkozy, were ostracized from the new Chirac administration.

Then he failed in turn to win the elections for the presidency of the Ile de France region in 1998, the RPR nomination for the mayoralty of Paris in 2001, and the Chair of the National Assembly in 2002. He currently presides its foreign affairs commission. Since the 1980s, he advocated the unification of the right-wing groupings in a great party. Chirac realized it with the creation of the Union for a Popular Movement in 2002.

From 1968 to 1980, he was president of the French company of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, while occupying various other positions in ministerial staff. Following the 1999 deadly accident in the tunnel, he was heard in 2005 by the court judging the case, about the security measures he had or had not taken. Balladur claimed that he always took security seriously, but that it was difficult to agree on anything with the Italian company operating the Italian part of the tunnel. From 1977 to 1986, he was president of Générale de Service Informatique (later merged into IBM Global Services), making him one of the few French politicians with business experience.

Edouard Balladur is often caricatured as aloof, aristocratic and arrogant in media such as the Canard Enchaîné weekly or the Les Guignols de l'info TV show.

[edit] Balladur's Cabinet

(29 March 1993 – 10 May 1995)

Édouard Balladur – Prime Minister
Alain Juppé – Minister of Foreign Affairs
François Léotard – Minister of Defense
Charles Pasqua – Minister of the Interior and Regional Planning
Edmond Alphandéry – Minister of Economy
Nicolas Sarkozy – Minister of the Budget and Spokesman for the Government
Gérard Longuet – Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade, Posts, and Telecommunications
Michel Giraud – Minister of Labour, Employment, and Vocational Training
Pierre Méhaignerie – Minister of Justice
François Bayrou – Minister of National Education
Philippe Mestre – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
Jacques Toubon – Minister of Culture and Francophonie
Jean Puech – Minister of Agriculture and Fish
Michèle Alliot-Marie – Minister of Youth and Sports
Dominique Perben – Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories
Bernard Bosson – Minister of Transport, Tourism, and Equipment
Simone Veil – Minister of Social Affairs, Health, and City
Michel Roussin – Minister of Cooperation
Hervé de Charette – Minister of Housing
Alain Carignon – Minister of Communication
André Rossinot – Minister of Civil Service
Alain Madelin – Minister of Companies and Economic Development
François Fillon – Minister of Higher Education and Research

[edit] Changes

19 July 1994 – Minister of Communication Alain Carignon leaves the Cabinet and the Ministry is abolished.
17 October 1994 – José Rossi succeeds Longuet as Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade, Posts, and Telecommunications.
12 November 1994 – Bernard Debré succeeds Roussin as Minister of Cooperation

Preceded by Pierre Bérégovoy	Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Privatization 1986–1988	Succeeded by Pierre Bérégovoy
Preceded by Pierre Bérégovoy	Prime Minister of France 1993–1995	Succeeded by Alain Juppé