Édouard Balladur, former Prime Minister of France and architect of cohabitation, has died

He held the office of prime minister in the years 1993-1995, during the government of socialist president Francois Mitterrand. He was one of the first politicians to foresee the possibility of cohabitation between the president and the prime minister from different political options and later implemented it himself as the right-wing head of government in the last years of Mitterrand's presidency.

The country's president, Emmanuel Macron, reacted to the death of the former Prime Minister of France by posting an entry on social media. In it, he expressed his condolences to the deceased politician's relatives.

Balladur was born in 1929 in Smyrna (today's Izmir), Turkey, into a family with Armenian roots that emigrated to Marseille a few years later. He was an advisor to Prime Minister Georges Pompidou, a close associate of General Charles de Gaulle. When Pompidou became president, Balladur took over as the influential secretary general of the presidential administration.

Friendship with Chirac

In the early 1980s, his friendship and cooperation with the then mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, began. When Chirac became prime minister in 1986 and the first cohabitation took place during Mitterrand's presidency, Balladur became the No. 2 person in his government, combining the functions of minister of state and minister of economy and finance.

In 1993, Mitterrand (elected for another term in 1988) was again forced to cohabitate with the right wing, which won the parliamentary elections. Balladur then became prime minister. In Chirac's memories, it was the result of an agreement between them - Balladur became the head of the government so that Chirac could fight for the presidency.

Balladur's government, faced with high unemployment and a slowdown in the economy, implemented a national loan and led to the privatization of 21 enterprises, including the Air France airline. The head of government enjoyed considerable popularity, which prompted him to enter the presidential race in 1995, i.e. competition with Chirac. Contrary to the latter's version, Balladur denied the existence of an agreement between them. Nevertheless, Chirac turned out to be the favorite, and Balladur did not advance to the second round. The clash in the presidential campaign was the end of the friendship of the two politicians.

Balladur returned to parliament, and later - after two terms in the National Assembly - retired from politics in 2006. He rarely appeared in public.

Accused of embezzlement

In 2010, suspicions arose of embezzlement during his administration in the sale of French warships to Pakistan and that some of the funds intended for intermediary commissions actually contributed to Balladur's 1995 presidential campaign. In 2021, the former prime minister was acquitted.

In 2005, Balladur was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his services in developing Polish-French cooperation.