Socialist Lionel Jospin, former Prime Minister of France, dies
He was head of government under Jacques Chirac as president of the Republic
ParisThe day after the municipal elections, French socialism lost one of its leading figures. Lionel Jospin, former Socialist prime minister, died on Monday at the age of 88, according to his family. Jospin was Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002 in a coalition government with the conservative Jacques Chirac as President of the Republic, and he was the driving force behind the 35-hour workweek and the law on gender parity in politics. Jospin was also among the first to advocate for the unity of left-wing parties to confront the right electorally, something that 24 years later remains one of the most heated debates among left-wing groups. He himself was a victim of the fragmentation of the progressive vote: in 2002 he was a candidate in the presidential elections, but was eliminated in the first round by Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen, who faced each other in the second round. "We couldn't win the elections with five candidates" from the left, he stated in an interview years later.
After his defeat at the polls, Jospin ended his political career, a decision that proved controversial. "I take full responsibility for this failure and I am bearing the consequences by withdrawing from political life," Lionel Jospin declared at the time. Just weeks before the legislative elections, his decision was criticized by his party, and there was even a campaign under the slogan "He's abandoning us." According to his campaign manager in the 2002 presidential elections, Jean Glavany, the former prime minister's decision "was not at all cowardice, but perhaps an explanation was lacking," he admitted to France Info. "The people have removed me, I am removing myself," Lionel Jospin stated years later.
Sadness for the Socialist family
The leader of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, expressed his "immense sadness" on Monday in a message to X. Faure emphasized that Jospin "represented a demanding, principled, and republican left. He knew how to lead 'the plural left' to victory."
President Emmanuel Macron praised Jospin's courage and rigor. "For his rigor, his courage, and his ideal of progress, he embodied a high ideal of the Republic," he wrote to X. From the radical left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France Insoumise) stated on the same social media platform that Jospin "was a model of high standards and hard work" and "an intellectual presence."
