French former Socialist prime minister Pierre Mauroy dies, aged 84

Former French prime minister Pierre Mauroy has died at the age of 84. Serving under President François Mitterrand, he was France’s first Socialist prime minister after the declaration of the Fifth Republic in 1958.

French former prime minister Pierre Mauroy in 2007. Wikimédia

Mauroy, who undergone an operation for a cancerous tumour on the lung in Aprila 2012, was hospitalised again on the 1 June in a state of extreme tiredness after receiving routine treatment for his illness, members of his family said.

Announcing the news during a visit to Tokyo, Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius, who succeeded Mauroy as prime minister in 1984, paid tribute to “a pillar of democratic socialism”.

Mauroy became prime minister in 1981 after the Socialists’ victory in presidential and legislative elections.

He was mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001 and was succeeded by another well-known Socialist, Martine Aubry.

Pierre Mauroy, who was married to fellow-teacher Gilberte, joined the Socialist movement at the age of 18 and went on to become prime minister.

1928: Born in Cartignies in the north of France to a schoolteacher father and a mother who was a practising Catholic, the first of six brothers and sisters;
1946: Joins the French Sections of the Workers’ International (SFIO), the predecessor of the Socialist Party;
1951: Sets up the education campaign, fédération nationale Léo-Lagrange;
1952-54: Teaches in Colombes, near Paris;
1966: Elected national secretary of the SFIO:
1973-2001: Mayor of Lille, the main city in northern France;
1973-81: MP for the Northern region of France;
1974-1981: President of the Nord-Pas de Calais region;
1979-1980: Member of the European Parliament;
1981-84: Prime minister of France;
1988-92: First Secretary of the Socialist Party;
1992-2011: Senator;
2011: Fined 20,000 euros for putting Socialist Party workers on Lille city council’s payroll;
2012: Undergoes operation for cancerous tumour on lung, publishes memoirs Ce jour-là (That day);
2013: Admitted to Percy-Clamart military hospital near Paris, dies on 7 June.