Editing Political history of France (section)

===Chirac coalition with the Left (1995–2002)===
{{Further|Jacques Chirac's second term as President of France}}

During his first two years in office, President [[Jacques Chirac]]'s prime minister was [[Alain Juppé]], who served contemporaneously as leader of Chirac's neo-[[Gaullist]] [[Rally for the Republic]] (RPR). Chirac and Juppé benefited from a very large, if rather unruly, majority in the National Assembly (470 out of 577 seats).

Mindful that the government might have to take politically costly decisions in advance of the legislative elections planned for spring 1998 in order to ensure that France met the [[Maastricht Treaty|Maastricht criteria]] for the single [[Euro|currency of the EU]], Chirac decided in April 1997 to call [[1997 French legislative election|early elections]].

[[History of the French Left|The Left]], led by [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]] leader [[Lionel Jospin]], whom Chirac had defeated in the [[1995 French presidential election|1995 presidential race]], unexpectedly won a solid National Assembly majority (319 seats, with 289 required for an absolute majority). President Chirac named Jospin prime minister on 2 June, and Jospin went on to form a [[Plural Left]] government composed primarily of Socialist ministers, along with some ministers from allied parties of the left, such as the [[French Communist Party|Communist Party]] and the [[The Greens (France)|Greens]].

Jospin stated his support for continued European integration and his intention to keep France on the path towards Economic and Monetary Union, albeit with greater attention to social concerns.

Chirac and Jospin worked together, for the most part, in the foreign affairs field with representatives of the presidency and the government pursuing a single, agreed French policy. Their "cohabitation" arrangement was the longest-lasting in the history of the Fifth Republic.