Jean-Pierre Raffarin



         




Jean-Pierre Raffarin (born August 3, 1948) is a French conservative politician. He is the current Prime Minister of France.

Born in Poitiers. He studied law at Paris II Panthéon-Assas University and later graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris business school. He has been the Prime Minister since April 2002. He was named by President Jacques Chirac after the latter's reelection as President.

His political policy combines communication, authority and very moderate neoliberalism. In 2003, he launched the reform of the public retirement scheme and that of the decentralization, which led to many strikes. During the summer of 2003, the country experienced an unusual episode of heat wave which caused the death of more than 13,000 people. The perceived late reaction of the governement was blamed on him.

On March 28, 2004, the ruling UMP party suffered a disaster during the regional elections, with all but one régions of mainland France going to the opposition (PS, PCF, Les Verts). This was generally interpreted, including by Raffarin himself, as a gesture of no-confidence against the government from the electorate. On March 30, Jean-Pierre Raffarin tendered the resignation of his government to president Chirac, who immediately re-appointed him prime minister, with the charge to form a new government. The new cabinet announced on March 31 no longer contains the ministers (such as Luc Ferry or List of Prime Ministers of France

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Raffarin's First Government, 7 May 2002 - 31 March 2004 (called Raffarin I until june 17, and became Raffarin II)

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Raffarin's Second Government, 31 March 2004 - Present - (called Raffarin III)

|width="40%" align="center"|Prime Minister of France
2002- |width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Current Incumbent







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