Editing François Mitterrand (section)

====Domestic difficulties====
The Left lost the 1983 municipal elections and the 1984 European Parliament election. At the same time, the [[Alain Savary|Savary Bill]], to limit the financing of private schools by local communities, caused a political crisis. It was abandoned and Mauroy resigned in July 1984. [[Laurent Fabius]] succeeded him, and the Communists left the cabinet.

In terms of foreign policy, Mitterrand did not significantly deviate from his predecessors and he continued nuclear weapons testing in the South Pacific in spite of protests from various peace and environmentalist organizations. In 1985, French agents sank the [[Greenpeace]]-owned ex-[[Fishing trawler|trawler]] [[Rainbow Warrior (1955)|''Rainbow Warrior'']] while it was docked in [[Auckland]], [[New Zealand]] which the group had used in demonstrations against nuclear tests, [[whaling]], and [[seal hunting]]. One Greenpeace member was killed, and when news broke of the event, a major scandal erupted that led to the resignation of Defence Minister [[Charles Hernu]]. France apologized with a subsequent payment of $8.16m reparations to Greenpeace in damages, NZ$13m to the New Zealand Government and a significant amount to the relatives of the deceased.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Willsher |first1=Kim |title=French Spy who sank Greenpeace ship apologises for lethal bombing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/06/french-spy-who-sunk-greenpeace-ship-apologises-for-lethal-bombing |access-date=7 May 2016 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 September 2015 |ref=French Spy apologises |archive-date=4 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604032806/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/06/french-spy-who-sunk-greenpeace-ship-apologises-for-lethal-bombing |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=UN>{{Cite journal |url=http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XX/215-284.pdf |date=30 April 1990 |title=Case concerning the difference between New Zealand and France concerning the interpretation or application of two agreements, concluded on 9 July 1986 between the two states and which related to the problems arising from the Rainbow Warrior Affair |journal=Reports of International Arbitral Awards |volume=XX |pages=215–284, especially p 275 |access-date=21 October 2013 |archive-date=27 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527193734/http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XX/215-284.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Reports of International Arbitral Awards : Case concerning the differences between New Zealand and France arising from the Rainbow Warrior affair |date=6 July 1986 |publisher=United Nations |pages=199–221 |url=http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XIX/199-221.pdf |access-date=7 May 2016 |archive-date=3 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403071528/http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XIX/199-221.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>