Former French PM Balladur dies at 97

​Edouard Balladur, who was France's ​prime minister from 1993 ‌to 1995, ​has died at 97, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on X on Monday.

A leading ‌figure of France's centre-right, Balladur was the architect of a sweeping privatisation drive that saw the sale of some of France's most prominent companies, ‌including banks Société Générale and Paribas — later part of BNP ‌Paribas — as well as broadcaster TF1. He also pushed through a reform of France's politically sensitive pension system in 1993. "Edouard Balladur is closely associated with fifty years ⁠of the ​history of the ⁠Fifth Republic. From his early days working alongside Georges Pompidou to his appointment ⁠as Prime Minister, he was a leading figure in our public life," Lecornu ​said on X.

"Edouard Balladur was a statesman with a ⁠reformist spirit and will remain a role model for many men and women in ⁠his political ​family," he added. A stiff technocrat, Balladur was often portrayed by his critics as aloof and disconnected. Plantu, a press cartoonist, sketched ⁠him as an aristocrat wearing a wig and seated in a sedan ⁠chair. The ⁠satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné renamed him "His Courteous Smugness".

Balladur served as prime minister under Socialist President Francois ‌Mitterrand.