Édouard Balladur

Édouard Balladur served as prime minister of France from 1993 to 1995, leading a cohabitation government under Socialist president François Mitterrand. As finance minister from 1986 he oversaw the privatisation of major state companies. He was hugely popular as prime minister but finished third in the first round of the 1995 presidential election behind Lionel Jospin and Jacques Chirac. Born in Smyrna, now Izmir, in 1929, he remained an MP until 2007. He died on August 31 at the age of 97.