Former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, Rival of Chirac, Dies at 97
Life, Political Career, and Legacy of Edouard Balladur
(Changes writing and editing credits at end of article)
By Florence Loeve
Balladur’s Political Persona and Public Perception
Aug 31 (Reuters) - After losing the 1995 presidential election against his ally-turned-rival Jacques Chirac, former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur wrote: "Moved? No." He added: "I would not have been any more so had I won."
A stiff technocrat, Balladur was often portrayed by his critics as aloof and disconnected from his contemporaries' preoccupations. Plantu, a press cartoonist, sketched him as an aristocrat wearing a wig and seated in a sedan chair. The satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné renamed him "His Courteous Smugness".
Architect of Economic Reform
A leading figure of France's centre-right, Balladur was the architect of a sweeping privatisation drive that saw the sale of some of France's most prominent companies, including banks Société Générale and Paribas — later part of BNP Paribas — as well as broadcaster TF1. He also pushed through a reform of France's politically sensitive pension system in 1993.
Mentor to Future Leaders
Balladur played a crucial role in the early careers of several prominent politicians and businessmen, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and billionaire Bernard Arnault's long-standing collaborator at luxury giant LVMH, Nicolas Bazire, who both worked for him during his 1995 run for office.
Controversy and Vindication
But that ill-fated campaign also caused lasting damage to his reputation, as courts scrutinised its financing. Following "a quarter-century of slander", as Balladur put it, he was finally cleared of any wrongdoing in 2021.
Early Life and Background
Balladur, the soft-spoken son of a banker, has died aged 97, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on X on Monday. No cause of death was given.
"Edouard Balladur is closely associated with fifty years of the history of the Fifth Republic. From his early days working alongside Georges Pompidou to his appointment as Prime Minister, he was a leading figure in our public life," Lecornu said.
Family Origins
Balladur was born in 1929 in the coastal city of Izmir, in what was then the Ottoman Empire, into a Christian family.
Though he was often said to be of Armenian origin, his name sometimes presented as a shorter version of "Balladurian", Balladur always denied it.
His family had been part of Izmir's French community for generations, his father being a director at the Ottoman Bank.
His parents emigrated with their six children in 1934 before settling in Marseille, in the south of France.
Education and Entry into Government
After graduating from the Ecole nationale d'administration, the training ground of France's bureaucratic elite, Balladur entered government in 1964 as an adviser to Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.
A decade later, he served as then-President Pompidou's chief of staff.
Rise to Power and Economic Leadership
Stepping away from politics after Pompidou's death in 1974, Balladur returned to a far more powerful role in 1986, as economy, finance and privatisation minister in Chirac's centre-right cabinet during the first "cohabitation" (power sharing) with Socialist President François Mitterrand.
Balladur implemented Chirac's bold programme of cutting taxes and government spending, liberalising the labour market, lifting price controls, and reprivatising some of France's state-owned banks and industrial companies.
'I WAS NOT A VERY GOOD CANDIDATE'
Appointment as Prime Minister
As Chirac, scalded by his defeat in the 1988 presidential election, no longer wished to serve as prime minister, Mitterrand appointed Balladur to the role in 1993.
As head of the government, Balladur extended his privatisation programme. But as a lifelong admirer of the general-turned-president Charles de Gaulle, he remained wary of the untrammelled influence of free markets and the United States, arguing in 1993: "What is the market? It is the law of the jungle, the law of nature. And what is civilisation? It is the struggle against nature."
Rivalry with Chirac and the 1995 Presidential Election
Chirac supported the bid by Balladur, his "friend of 30 years" whom he knew "better than anyone", for the premiership with the idea that he would pave the way for his own path to the presidency. Instead, Balladur emerged as the more popular of the pair and in 1995 announced his candidacy for the Elysee Palace, sparking a bitter rivalry between the two men.
In a television interview, Balladur had forcefully argued that a prime minister in a power-sharing government should not run for president. "If there is to be another cohabitation, it would be desirable, so that the climate is calmer and life more peaceful, for the prime minister not to be a candidate in the presidential election," he said.
"I do not see how a man could stand before the French people in 1993 and tell them I will not be a candidate in two years and then be one. That would be breaking his word."
Campaign Dynamics and Public Perception
Balladur's U-turn — and the fratricidal conflict with Chirac — did not at first seem to undermine his chances. He entered the race as the clear favourite.
"For the public, the presidential election is already decided," the French daily Le Monde headlined in January 1995, judging that polls showed Balladur's "uncontested dominance" "over all his competitors", while the International Herald Tribune asserted that Chirac appeared to have lost the struggle for his own party's loyalty.
Arlette Chabot, a news anchor of the public broadcaster France 2, went so far as to ask Chirac whether he might withdraw his candidacy, infuriating the politician.
As he recounted in his book "Deux ans à Matignon" (Two years in the prime minister's official residence), Balladur presented himself as the candidate of "reason" and "truth", focused on economic growth and fiscal responsibility against what he considered as the false promises of his competitors.
But the dynamics of the race shifted rapidly. Balladur struggled on the campaign trail, appearing uncomfortable as he engaged with voters. "I refused to make people dream," he said in 1995.
