Editing François Mitterrand (section)

===Second term: 1988–1995===

====Domestic policy====
Following his re-election, he named [[Michel Rocard]] as prime minister, despite their poor relations. Rocard led the moderate wing of the PS and he was the most popular of the Socialist politicians. François Mitterrand decided to organize a new [[1988 French legislative election|legislative election]]. The PS obtained a relative parliamentary majority. Four centre-right politicians joined the cabinet.

The second term was marked by the creation of the [[Revenu minimum d'insertion|Insertion Minimum Revenue]] (RMI), which ensured a minimum level of income to those deprived of any other form of income; the restoring of the solidarity tax on wealth, which had been abolished by Chirac's cabinet; the institution of the [[Generalized social tax]]; the extension of parental leave up to the child's third birthday;<ref name="ReferenceA" /> the reform of the [[Common Agricultural Policy]]; the 1990 [[Gayssot Act]] on [[hate speech]] and [[Holocaust denial]]; the Besson law of 1990;<ref>http://www.oecd.org/gov/publicsectorinnovationande-government/2537279.pdf {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> the Mermaz Law of 1989;<ref name="justlanded">{{cite web|url=http://www.justlanded.com/english/France/Articles/Property/Letting-in-France|title=France: Letting in France, Rules & Regulations, Various rules and regulations apply to the letting of|publisher=justlanded.com|access-date=7 December 2014|archive-date=24 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524023054/http://www.justlanded.com/english/France/Articles/Property/Letting-in-France|url-status=live}}</ref> the introduction of a private childcare allowance;<ref name="google7">{{cite book|title=The Politics of Post-Industrial Welfare States: Adapting Post-War Social Policies to New Social Risks|author1=Armingeon, K.|author2=Bonoli, G.|date=2007|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-17910-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTi2SS8egosC|page=218|access-date=7 December 2014|archive-date=9 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509121801/https://books.google.com/books?id=sTi2SS8egosC|url-status=live}}</ref> the Urban Orientation Law of 1991;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/247-FR_Housing.pdf|title=National Analytical Study on Housing|access-date=11 March 2013|archive-date=15 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515112647/http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/247-FR_Housing.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Pierre Arpaillange|Arpaillange Act]] on the financing of political parties; the reform of the [[penal code]]; the [[Matignon Agreements (1988)|Matignon Agreements]] concerning [[New Caledonia]]; the [[Loi Evin|Evin Act]] on smoking in public places; the extension of the age limit for family allowances to 18 years in 1990;<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="securite-sociale">{{cite web|url=http://www.securite-sociale.fr/L-allocation-de-rentree-scolaire-est-versee-sous-conditions-de-ressources-pour-chaque-enfant?id_mot=67|title=Le portail du service public de la Sécurité sociale / L'allocation de rentrée scolaire est&nbsp;(...)|publisher=securite-sociale.fr|access-date=7 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501082739/http://www.securite-sociale.fr/L-allocation-de-rentree-scolaire-est-versee-sous-conditions-de-ressources-pour-chaque-enfant?id_mot=67|archive-date=1 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the 1989 Education Act which, amongst other measures, obliged local authorities to educate all children with disabilities.<ref name="google8">{{cite book|title=Implementing Inclusive Education|author=Innovation, C.E.R.|date=1997|publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|isbn=9789264155893|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7N3QP75Q9wC|page=24|access-date=7 December 2014|archive-date=30 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430131626/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7N3QP75Q9wC|url-status=live}}</ref> Several large architectural works were pursued, in what would become known as the [[Grands Projets of François Mitterrand]] with the building of the [[Louvre Pyramid]], the [[Channel Tunnel]], the [[Grande Arche]] at [[La Défense]], the [[Bastille Opera]], the Finance Ministry in [[Bercy]], and the [[Bibliothèque Nationale de France|National Library of France]]. On 16 February 1993, President François Mitterrand inaugurated in [[Fréjus]] a memorial to the [[Indochina War|wars in Indochina]].

But the second term was also marked by rivalries within the PS and the split of the ''Mitterrandist'' group (at the [[Rennes Congress]], where supporters of [[Laurent Fabius]] and [[Lionel Jospin]] clashed bitterly for control of the party), the scandals about the financing of the party, the [[Infected blood scandal (France)|contaminated blood scandal]] which implicated Laurent Fabius and former ministers Georgina Dufoix and Emond Hervé, and the Elysée wiretaps affairs.

====Second Cohabitation====
Disappointed with Rocard's apparent failure to enact the Socialists' programme, Mitterrand dismissed Michel Rocard in 1991 and appointed [[Édith Cresson]] to replace him. She was the first woman to become prime minister in France but proved a costly mistake due to her tendency to make acerbic and racist public remarks. After the Socialists experienced heavy losses in the 1992 regional elections, Cresson resigned from office. Her successor [[Pierre Bérégovoy]] promised to fight unemployment and corruption but he could not prevent the catastrophic defeat of the left in the [[1993 French legislative election|1993 legislative election]]. The Socialist Party suffered a crushing defeat with the right-wing parties winning 485 seats to the left's 95. He killed himself on 1 May 1993.

Mitterrand named the former RPR Finance Minister [[Edouard Balladur]] as Prime Minister. The second "cohabitation" was less contentious than the first, because the two men knew they were not rivals for the next presidential election. By this point, François Mitterrand was nearly 80 years old and suffering from cancer in addition to the shock of his friend [[François de Grossouvre]]'s suicide. His second and last term ended after the [[1995 French presidential election|1995 presidential election]] in May 1995 with the election of [[Jacques Chirac]]. Socialist candidate [[Lionel Jospin]] lost the presidential election.

Overall, as President, Mitterrand maintained the "basic characteristic of a strong welfare base underpinned by a strong state." A United Nations Human Development report concluded that, from 1979 to 1989, France was the only country in the OECD (apart from Portugal) in which income inequalities did not get worse.<ref>''France since 1870: Culture, Politics, and Society'' by Charles Sowerine</ref> During his second term as president, however, the gap between rich and poor widened in France,<ref>''One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century'' by Donald Sassoon</ref> with both unemployment and poverty rising in the wake of the economic recession of 1991–1993.<ref>''The Mitterrand Years: Legacy and Evaluation'' edited by Mairi Maclean</ref> According to other studies, though, the percentage of the French population living in poverty (based on various criteria) fell between the mid-Eighties and the mid-Nineties.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bT-3laKFEUsC&q=poverty+in+france+1981-1995&pg=PA149|title=Statistical Handbook on the Social Safety Net|first=Fernando Francisco|last=Padró|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9781573565165|access-date=17 October 2020|archive-date=20 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320051336/https://books.google.com/books?id=bT-3laKFEUsC&q=poverty+in+france+1981-1995&pg=PA149|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cajWAgAAQBAJ|title=Innovations in Labour Market Policies The Australian Way: The Australian Way|last=OECD|date=17 July 2001|publisher=OECD Publishing|isbn=9789264194502|access-date=19 July 2016|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801215830/https://books.google.com/books?id=cajWAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>