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Raymond Barre, Former French Prime Minister and Economist, Dies

Other News Materials 25 August 2007 11:48 (UTC +04:00)

( Nytimes ) - Raymond Barre, a prominent economist who served as French prime minister during the presidency of Valery Giscard d'Estaing in the 1970s, has died Saturday aged 83, a family member said.

Barre, who his mentor Giscard described as "the best economist in France" when he appointed him premier in August 1976, died at the Val de Grace military hospital in Paris, where he had been since suffering cardiac problems in April.

Before his stint as prime minister, which lasted until Giscard was ousted by the Socialist Francois Mitterrand in May 1981, Barre had been best known as the writer of a weighty economics textbook that was required reading for a generation of French university students.

Raymond Barre was born on April 12, 1924 on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion.

After studying law in France, he entered the civil service in 1959 as a senior official in the ministry for industry under president Charles de Gaulle.

He went on to serve in Brussels as a member of the executive of the precursor of the European Union, the European Economic Community (EEC).

Barre was the EEC commissioner for economic and financial affairs from 1967 to 1973, a period which saw the tough negotiations that led to Britain finally overcoming French resistance and joining the community.

The period also saw the student revolt and general strike of May 1968, which was followed several months later by a run on the French franc. Barre persuaded De Gaulle not to devalue, a stand which gained him a reputation as a defender of a strong currency.

The election of Giscard in 1974 was a major upheaval in French politics, as the new leader was not a Gaullist but a centrist.

Barre, who had a reputation more as a loyal technocrat than as a politician, was suited to the situation, and in 1976 Giscard appointed him first as foreign trade minister and then a few months later as both prime minister and minister for the economy.

As premier, Barre replaced the turbulent Gaullist politician Jacques Chirac, who had resigned abruptly as prime minister amid acrimony over a series of disagreements with the president.

A portly figure who made few concessions to modernity, Barre liked to describe himself as "a square man in a round body," and as premier he proceeded to enact what he himself described as "austerity" policies, including a freeze on consumer prices and wage rise restrictions.

This came as France was struggling to absorb the economic backwash from the 1973 oil price shock.

Barre was atypical in that he had never been elected to parliament when he became premier, but he was able to rectify that two years later by winning a seat that includes the southeastern city of Lyon.

After leaving power along with Giscard in 1981, Barre consolidated his base in Lyon and like many another former French prime minister, he sought to build an image as a potential future president.

To that end he joined the Union for French Democracy (UDF) party, the pro-Giscard centrist grouping which was then the main rival to the Gaullists on the parliamentary right.

But Barre's bid for the presidency in 1988 failed when he was knocked out in the first round by Chirac, with the latter going on to lose against Mitterrand in the second.

Having lost any prospects of winning the presidency, which was to go to Chirac the next time round in 1995, Barre consoled himself by taking an active role in the politics of Lyon.

He served as mayor from 1995 to 2001, taking over after the city administration had been shaken by a financial scandal.

In his latter years Barre gained a reputation as a rather sleepy but cuddly elder statesman, occasionally being caught out by photographers as he enjoyed an post-lunch snooze on the parliamentary benches.

He retired from politics in 2002, and is survived by his wife Eva and two sons.

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