Francois
Mitterrand, the fifth child of a stationmaster, was born in Jarnac,
France, on 26th October, 1916. An intelligent
student Mitterrand studied law and political science at the University
of Paris.
On the
outbreak of the Second World War Mitterrand
joined the French Army but in 1940 he
was wounded during Germany's Western
Offensive. After being captured he was taken to Germany,
but managed to escape in December 1941.
Mitterrand
arrived in Vichy in January 1942 and as
a strong supporter of Henri-Philippe Petain
was given a post in the documentation service of the Legion Francaise
des Combattants. However in 1943 he broke with the government over
the decision by Pierre Laval to introduce
a policy of sending French workers to Germany.
He now
joined the French Resistance and began
working with the Organization of Armed Resistance (ORA). In November,
1943, he travelled to London where he met General Charles
De Gaulle, who put him in charge of unifying the different groups
representing former soldiers.
On his
return to France in February 1944, Mitterrand became head of Mouvement
National Des Prisonniers de Guerre. At the end of the war Mitterrand
was given the job of arranging the return of the thousands of French
prisoners and deportees that were still in Germany.
In 1946 was
elected as a Deputy in the French National Assembly. Between 1947
and 1958 Mitterrand held ministerial posts in 11 short-lived centralists
governments.
Mitterrand
was opposed to the decision by Charles De
Gaulle to create a Fifth Republic. This resulted in him losing
his seat in the 1958 elections. His political views now became more
radical and in the 1960s he began the task of building up a new, left
of centre anti-Gaullist alliance, the Federation of the Left.
Mitterrand
returned to the French National Assembly in 1962 and three years later
was the Federation's presidential candidate and although achieving
32 per cent of the vote was defeated by Charles
De Gaulle.
In 1971
Mitterrand became the leader of the Socialist
Party. Over the next few years he embarked on a strategy of electoral
union with the Communist Party. This
proved highly successful and by 1978 it became the single most popular
party in France and in 1981 Mitterrand was elected president.
As president
Mitterrand introduced a series of radical economic and political reforms.
This included nationalizing financial institutions and several large
corporations, raising the minimum wage, improved welfare benefits
and abolishing the death penalty. However, after the 1986 elections
the Socialist Party lost its National
Assembly majority and Mitterrand was forced to work with a right-wing
coalition government.
Mitterrand
was re-elected president in 1988 and secured another seven year term.
As the conservative parties lost their majority, a new left of centre
administration was established. Worried by the economic growth of
Germany, Mitterrand supported the Treaty
of European Union (1991) which aimed at providing a centralized European
banking system and a common currency.
In 1992 the Socialist
Party suffered a crushing defeat with the
right-wing parties winning 484 seats to the left's 92. Three years
later Mitterrand lost the presidential election. Francois Mitterrand
died in Paris on 8th January, 1996.
History
of the European Union: Integration Process and European Citizenship
