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yesterday

Lionel Jospin, Former French Prime Minister and Architect of the 35-Hour Week, Dies at 88

Tributes cast him as a reformer defined by a 2002 defeat that reshaped French politics.

FILE - French Prime Minister and socialist presidential candidate Lionel Jospin, right, surrounded by young supporters, waves at the end of a campaign meeting in Rennes, western France, Wednesday April 17, 2002. (AP Photo/Franck Prevel, File)
FILE - Former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin gestures as he delivers his speech at a meeting calling for the "yes" vote in the referendum on the EU Constitution in Nantes, western France, Thursday May 19, 2005. (AP Photo/Franck Prevel, File)
FILE - Former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin arrives at the Elysee Palace Sunday, May 14, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
FILE - French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, left, and French President Jacques Chirac, during a news conference at the EU summit in Luxembourg on Saturday December 13, 1997. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours, File)

Overview

  • His death was confirmed by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu after AFP cited an announcement from Jospin’s family, and no cause was disclosed.
  • Jospin died on Sunday at age 88, weeks after saying he had undergone a “serious operation” in January and had returned home to rest.
  • As prime minister from 1997 to 2002 during cohabitation with President Jacques Chirac, he introduced the 35-hour work week, created youth jobs and established civil unions while pursuing privatisations.
  • France experienced economic growth and falling unemployment under his government, and he cultivated a reputation for probity uncommon in that era.
  • He finished third in the 2002 presidential first round behind Jacques Chirac and Jean‑Marie Le Pen, then withdrew from frontline politics and later led a 2012 ethics commission for François Hollande.