Editing François Mitterrand (section)

====European policy====
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F076604-0021, Frankreich, Staatsbesuch Bundeskanzler Kohl.jpg|thumb|Mitterrand and German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl|Kohl]], 1987.]]
He initially opposed further membership, fearing the Community was not ready and it would water it down to a free trade area.<ref name="ESI">[http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=156&document_ID=74 Beyond Enlargement Fatigue? The Dutch debate on Turkish accession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426011550/http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=156&document_ID=74 |date=26 April 2012 }}, European Security Initiative 2006</ref>

Mitterrand supported the [[Enlargement of the European Union|enlargement of the Community]] to include Spain and Portugal (which both joined in January 1986). In February 1986 he helped the ''[[Single European Act]]'' come into effect. He worked well with his friend [[Helmut Kohl]] and improved [[Franco-German relations]] significantly.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=van Hoef|first=Yuri|date=2014|title=Friendship in world politics: Assessing the personal relationships between Kohl and Mitterrand, and Bush and Gorbachev|url=https://amityjournal.leeds.ac.uk/|journal=Amity: The Journal of Friendship Studies|volume=3|issue=1 |pages=72–75|access-date=5 March 2018|archive-date=5 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305142747/https://amityjournal.leeds.ac.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref> Together they fathered the [[Maastricht Treaty]], which was signed on 7 February 1992. It was ratified by [[1992 French referendum|referendum]], and approved by just over 51% of the voters.

British Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] was against a [[German reunification]]<ref>sueddeutsche.de 10 September 2009: [http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/deutsche-einheit-fuer-thatcher-war-deutschland-eine-gefaehrliche-kroete-1.28579 Für Thatcher war Deutschland eine gefährliche Kröte] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401112103/http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/deutsche-einheit-fuer-thatcher-war-deutschland-eine-gefaehrliche-kroete-1.28579 |date=1 April 2012 }}</ref> and also against the then discussed [[Maastricht Treaty]].
When Kohl, then West German Chancellor, asked François Mitterrand to agree to reunification (France was one of the four Allies who had to agree to the [[Two Plus Four]]-treaty), François Mitterrand told Kohl he accepted it only in the event Germany would abandon the [[Deutsche Mark]] and adopt the Euro. Kohl accepted this [[package deal]] (including without talking to [[Karl Otto Pöhl]], then President of the Bundesbank).<ref>spiegel.de: [http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,719608,00.html ''Mitterrand forderte Euro als Gegenleistung für die Einheit''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127081144/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,719608,00.html |date=27 January 2012 }}; spiegel.de 27. April 1998: [http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-7870401.html Dunkelste Stunden. – Der Kanzler öffnet die Akten über die deutsche Einheit. Die Dokumente zeigen: Frankreich hat das schnelle Ende der Mark erzwungen.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723171709/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-7870401.html |date=23 July 2012 }}; spiegel.de 2. März 1998: [http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-7833746.html Weg ohne Wiederkehr. – Hinter der Fassade ihrer deutsch-französischen Freundschaft haben Helmut Kohl und François Mitterrand erbittert um Einheit und Euro gerungen, wie jetzt neue Dokumente aus dem Kanzleramt zeigen.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803112202/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-7833746.html |date=3 August 2012 }}</ref><ref name="spiegel">spiegel.de 8. May 2012: [http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/euro-struggles-can-be-traced-to-origins-of-common-currency-a-831842.html Operation Self-Deceit: New Documents Shine Light on Euro Birth Defects] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509184543/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/euro-struggles-can-be-traced-to-origins-of-common-currency-a-831842.html |date=9 May 2012 }}</ref>

That year, he also established the [[Mitterrand doctrine]], a policy of not extraditing convicted far-left terrorists of the [[Years of Lead (Italy)|years of lead]] such as [[Cesare Battisti (born 1954)|Cesare Battisti]] to [[Italy]], due to the alleged non-conformity of Italian legislation to European standards of rule of law, in particular the anti-terrorism laws passed by Italy in the 1970s and 1980s. When the [[European Court of Human Rights]] finally ruled against the François Mitterrand doctrine, the policy had already led to most of the criminals never being punished for their crimes.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}