Former French PM Balladur dies at 97

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August 31, 2026 3:24 PM EDT

FILE PHOTO: French Prime Minister and Presidential candidate Edouard Balladur waves at the crowd during a campaign rally at Loudeac, Brittany, western France, March 28, 1995. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

PARIS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - ‌Edouard Balladur, ​who ​was France's prime minister from 1993 to 1995, has died at 97, Prime Minister ‌Sebastien Lecornu said on X on Monday.

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.

"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 on X.

"Edouard Balladur was a statesman with a reformist spirit and will remain a ⁠role model for many men and women in his political ​family," he added.

A stiff technocrat, Balladur was often portrayed by his critics as aloof and disconnected. 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".

Balladur served ‌as prime minister ​under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Dominique Patton and Alistair ‌Bell)


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