Michel Rocard | |
|---|---|
 Rocard in 2012 | |
| Member of theFrench Senate forYvelines | |
| In office 24 September 1995 – 18 November 1997 | |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Bellanger |
| Member of the European Parliament | |
| In office 19 July 1994 – 31 January 2009 | |
| First Secretary of the Socialist Party | |
| In office 24 October 1993 – 19 June 1994 | |
| Preceded by | Laurent Fabius |
| Succeeded by | Henri Emmanuelli |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 10 May 1988 – 15 May 1991 | |
| President | François Mitterrand |
| Preceded by | Jacques Chirac |
| Succeeded by | Édith Cresson |
| Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office 22 March 1983 – 4 April 1985 | |
| Prime Minister | Pierre Mauroy Laurent Fabius |
| Preceded by | Édith Cresson |
| Succeeded by | Henri Nallet |
| Minister of Territorial Development | |
| In office 22 May 1981 – 22 March 1983 | |
| Prime Minister | Pierre Mauroy |
| Preceded by | Fernand Icart |
| Succeeded by | Gaston Defferre |
| Mayor ofConflans-Sainte-Honorine | |
| In office 25 March 1977 – 19 July 1994 | |
| Preceded by | Gilbert Legrand |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Paul Huchon |
| Member of theNational Assembly forYvelines | |
| In office 23 June 1988 – 23 July 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Proportional representation |
| Succeeded by | Jean Guigné |
| Constituency | Yvelines's 7th |
| In office 2 April 1986 – 14 May 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Proportional representation |
| Succeeded by | End ofproportional representation |
| Constituency | Yvelines |
| In office 3 April 1978 – 24 July 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Gérard Godon |
| Succeeded by | Martine Frachon |
| Constituency | Yvelines's 3rd |
| In office 27 October 1969 – 1 April 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Pierre Clostermann |
| Succeeded by | Marc Lauriol |
| Constituency | Yvelines's 4th |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1930-08-23)23 August 1930 Courbevoie,France |
| Died | 2 July 2016(2016-07-02) (aged 85) Paris,France |
| Political party | PS (1974–2016) |
| Other political affiliations | SFIO (till 1967) PSU (1967–1974) |
| Relations | Yves Rocard (father) |
| Children | Francis Rocard |
| Education | Lycée Louis-le-Grand |
| Alma mater | Sciences Po,ÉNA |
| Occupation | Civil servant |
Michel RocardACOQ (French:[miʃɛlʁɔkaʁ]; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of theSocialist Party (PS). He served asPrime Minister underFrançois Mitterrand from 1988 to 1991 during which he created theRevenu minimum d'insertion (RMI), a social minimum welfare program for indigents, and achieved theMatignon Accords regarding the status ofNew Caledonia. He was a member of theEuropean Parliament, and was strongly involved in European policies until 2009. In 2007, he joined a Commission under the authority ofNicolas Sarkozy'sMinister of Education,Xavier Darcos.[1]
Rocard was born inCourbevoie, Hauts-de-Seine, to aProtestant family. The son ofnuclear physicistYves Rocard, he entered politics as a student leader while he was studying atSciences Po. He became chair of theFrench Socialist Students affiliated to the main French Socialist party at the time, theFrench Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), and studied at theÉcole nationale d'administration (ENA), after which he chose to enter the prestigiousInspection des finances. As an anti-colonialist, he went toAlgeria and wrote a report regarding the widely-ignoredrefugee camps of theAlgerian War (1954–1962). The report was leaked to the newspapersLe Monde andFrance Observateur in April 1959, which almost cost Rocard his position.[citation needed]Michel Rocard was a certified glider pilot.[2]
Having left the SFIO because ofGuy Mollet's position towards the Algerian War, Rocard led the dissidentUnified Socialist Party (PSU) from 1967 to 1974. He was a prominent figure during theMay 1968 crisis,[citation needed] supporting theauto-gestionary project. He ran in the1969 presidential election but obtained only 3.6% of the vote. Some months later, he was elected deputy for theYvelinesdépartement, defeating the former Prime ministerMaurice Couve de Murville. He lost his parliamentary seat in 1973, but retook it in 1978.
In 1973–74, he participated in theLIP conflict, selling watches with the workers and participating, behind the scenes, in the attempts to find an employer who would take back the factory, which was on the verge of being liquidated.[3]
In 1974, he joinedFrançois Mitterrand and the renewedSocialist Party (PS), which had replaced the old SFIO. Most of the PSU members and a part of theFrench and Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) trade union – the non-Marxist section of the left that Rocard famously defined as the "Second Left" – followed him.[citation needed]
Elected mayor ofConflans-Sainte-Honorine in 1977, he led the opposition to Mitterrand inside the Socialist Party (as a candidate of the right wing of the party). After the defeat of the left at the1978 legislative election, he tried to take over the leadership of the party. In spite of his alliance withPierre Mauroy, the number 2 of the PS, he lost at theMetz Congress (1979). As the Socialist Party's most popular politician at the time (including Mitterrand himself),[citation needed] he announced that he would run for president; but his "Call of Conflans" did not result in majority support within the PS, and he withdrew his candidacy. Mitterrand was the successful Socialist candidate in the1981 presidential election.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Rocard's group inside the Socialist Party, known as "les rocardiens", advocated a re-alignment of French socialism through a clearer acceptance of themarket economy, moredecentralisation and lessstate control. It was largely influenced by Scandinaviansocial democracy, and stood in opposition to Mitterrand's initial agenda ofnationalization, programmed in the110 Propositions for France.[citation needed] Nonetheless, the "rocardiens" always remained a minority.
Under Mitterrand's first presidency, he wasMinister of Territorial Development andMinister of Planning from 1981 to 1983 andMinister of Agriculture from 1983 to 1985. He resigned from the cabinet in due to his opposition to the introduction of theproportional system for the legislative elections. He hoped, in vain, that Mitterrand would not run for re-election so he could be the PS candidate in the1988 presidential election.[citation needed]
After Mitterrand's re-election, he was chosen as Prime Minister (May 1988 – May 1991). Indeed, Rocard was popular and his position, on the right wing of the PS, corresponded with the slogan of the electoral campaign, "a United France." He formed a cabinet including 4 center-right ministers. As Prime Minister, he led theMatignon Accords regarding the status ofNew Caledonia, which ended the troubles in this overseas territory. His record in office also include a decrease in unemployment and a large-scale reform of the welfare state's financing system. He created a minimum social assistance scheme, theRMI, which helped to alleviate poverty.[4][page needed]
Rocard's poor relations with Mitterrand, notably during his mandate as Prime Minister, were notorious.[citation needed] In addition, the Socialists only held a small parliamentary majority. In 1991, when his popularity decreased, President Mitterrand forced him to resign.[citation needed] However, according to Mauroy, who led the party, Rocard stood as the "natural candidate" for the following presidential elections.[citation needed] After the1993 electoral disaster, he became leader of the PS by advocating a political "big-bang", that was to say a questioning of theleft/right divide. His speech did not have the desired effect.[citation needed]
Rocard remained as leader of the Socialist Party for only one year, in part because of the PS's complete defeat during the1994 European elections. The defeat was in part due to the success of the list of theLeft Radicals Movement, which was covertly supported by President Mitterrand.[citation needed] Consequently, he was toppled by the left-wing of the party and lost his last chance to run for president the next year. Having lost his deputy's seat in 1993, he became Senator of Yvelines from 1995 to 1997. His supporters within the Socialist Party became allies of candidateLionel Jospin, who was Prime Minister in 1997–2002, and thenDominique Strauss-Kahn.[citation needed]
Rocard was a member of theEuropean Parliament (1994–2009), and chaired theCommittee on Development and Cooperation (1997–1999), theCommittee on Employment and Social Affairs (1999–2002) and theCommittee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. Michel Rocard was known for his hostility forproposed directives to allowsoftware patents in Europe, and has been an outspoken opponent of what he considers to be manoeuvres to force the decision on this issue.[5]
On the French political scene, Rocard presented himself as the political heir ofPierre Mendès-France, known for his moral rigour, and as the politician who "speaks the truth". After Mitterrand's death, he caused controversy when he said, about the former president, "he was not an honest man". An impersonator mocked him for his problems of elocution.[citation needed] In the run up to thepresidential elections in 2007, Rocard called for an alliance between the Socialists and the centristUnion for French Democracy (UDF) party ofFrançois Bayrou in an effort to defeatUnion for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidateNicolas Sarkozy.Ségolène Royal, the PS candidate, rejected any such compromise, lamenting that she was once again obliged to face obstacles from within her own party. Rocard also publicly admitted, after the election, having asked Ségolène Royal to step down in his favor in March 2007, one month before the first round of voting.[citation needed]
Like other Socialist politicians, such asJack Lang orHubert Védrine, who accepted similar positions, Rocard accepted a post on the Committee on the re-evaluation of the teaching profession, which was placed under the "high authority" of Sarkozy'sMinister of EducationXavier Darcos.[6] Criticized byMedhi Ouraoui, national delegate of the PS, Rocard claimed it was a "democrat's duty" to participate in such Commissions and that he was "not concerned" by the "game of the President of the Republic [consisting of making of such left-wing participations] political symbols".[6] He furthermore explained that he had accepted to speak before theGracques' spring university (a group of senior left-wing civil servants who advocated a centrist strategy) because political parties were not suited any more to serious reflexion.[6] Finally, he again claimed that the (Marxist) SFIO had been created in 1905 on a fundamental "ambiguity", that of whether to accept or reject market economy.[6]
He remained active in European Union politics as late as June 2014, when he delivered his thoughts on the British on the 70th anniversary of theD-Day landings in Normandy. Rocard quoted Churchill's words about the "United States of Europe", issued a strong condemnation of the UK policy of the 40 years to that date, and begged for a European strongman, which he saw inMartin Schulz. He concluded by inviting the UK to leave.[7]
Rocard was also a supporter of theCampaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations.[8]
Governmental functions
Prime minister :1988–1991 (Resignation).
Minister of State, minister of Planning and Land Development : 1981–1983.
Minister of Agriculture : 1983–1985 (Resignation).
Electoral mandates
European Parliament
Member of theEuropean Parliament : 1994–2009 (Resignation). Elected in 1994, reelected in 1999, 2004.
Senate of France
Senator of Yvelines : 1995–1997 (Resignation). Elected in 1995.
National Assembly of France
Member of theNational Assembly of France forYvelines (4th constituency) : 1969–1973 / 1978–1981 (Became minister in 1981) / 1986–1988 (Became Prime minister in 1988). Elected in 1969, reelected in 1978, 1981, 1986, 1988
Regional Council
Regional councillor ofÎle-de-France : 1978–1988 (Resignation). Elected in 1986.
Municipal Council
Mayor ofConflans-Sainte-Honorine : 1977–1994. Reelected in 1983, 1989.
Municipal councillor ofConflans-Sainte-Honorine : 1977–2001. Reelected in 1983, 1989, 1995.
Political functions
First Secretary (leader) of theSocialist Party (France) : 1993–1994 (Resignation).
In June 2007, Rocard was admitted to the Calcutta Medical Research Institute,Kolkata, India where doctors found he had ablood clot in the brain and was operated upon. He was discharged from the hospital on 10 July 2007.[9]
On 30 March 2012, Rocard was on a visit toStockholm,Sweden to attend a meeting regarding theArctic Council. During a break at noon, he became ill and was taken to theKarolinska University Hospital. Doctors decided later that day that Rocard should spend the night at the hospital'sintensive-care medicine unit for observation.[10][11][12]
Rocard died on 2 July 2016 in Paris, at the age of 85.[13]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Territorial Development 1981–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Planning 1981–1983 | |
| Preceded by | Minister of Agriculture 1983–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1988–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | First Secretary of the Socialist Party 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
