Pierre Mauroy

Pierre Mauroy , 1928-, French politician. Educated at the École National d'Apprentissage de Cachan, he was a teacher and an active member of the new Socialist party from the 1960s. During the 1970s, he was second only to François Mitterrand in the party. As premier from 1982 to 1984, his policies were left wing, but his credibility did not survive when Mitterrand moved economically to the right and Laurent Fabius became premier. Mauroy defeated Fabius for the party leadership in 1988 and worked to unify the party for future elections until he was replaced by Fabius in 1992.

Mauroy, Pierre (b. 5 July 1928). Prime Minister of France 1981–4 Lord Mayor of Lille and Deputy in the National Assembly since 1973, he belonged to the militant wing of the Socialist Party. As the Prime Minister appointed to carry out the policies of the newly elected President Mitterrand, he abolished the death penalty, state control of the media, and restrictions on local radio transmissions. More importantly, despite the current economic recession, he introduced an expansionist social and economic programme, with vastly increased social benefit payments and the creation of 140,000 new jobs. Also, there proceeded a series of nationalizations according to the law of 13 February 1982. However, within months of introducing his inflationary programme, he had to backtrack and announce his first spending cuts. In 1983 health service charges were raised, and drastic foreign exchange controls of 2,000 francs per annum were introduced. Due to his government's rising unpopularity, he was replaced by Laurent Fabius. In 1992 he became a Senator.