Lionel Jospin

French politician, a former Secretary of Economics at IUT, Paris-Sceax 1970-81. He was National Secretary in 1975-81 and later the first secretary of the Socialist Party. Jospin was elected the President of France on 6/03/1997 under Chirac as Prime Minister, succeeding former president Alain Juppe. The youngest of four kids in a Protestant family, he was involved in church and family from youth. His parents were devoted and gave the kids a good moral education. Jospin was attracted to socialism as his dad was a member of the Party. His studies in political-science were brilliant and he became a Professor of Economics. He moved into politics in 1981 in the Socialist Party where he became a deputy, but later left the party because of its link to communism. Jospin married Elisabeth Dannenmuller on 3/29/1973; they divorced 9/15/1993 and he married Sylviane Agacinsky on 6/30/1994. When Mitterand became president in 1988, Jospin backed his election campaign. He served as Minister of National Education during two ministers, Rochard and Cresson. Known as a superb analyst, he was, however, not good at uniting people. In a startling upset, Jospin finished first in the opening round of France's presidential elections 4/23/1995 with the favorite, conservative Paris mayor Jacques Chirac second. The election was the first step in choosing a new president in 14 years, one to succeed Francois Mitterand. Conservative Premier Edouard Balladur conceded and urged his supporters to back Chirac on the final vote, 5/07/1994. France's president is among the most powerful leaders in Europe; he controls foreign and defense policy, appoints the prime minister, presides over Cabinet meetings, influences judicial appointments and can dissolve parliament. On 2/20/2002, Socialist P.M. Jospin announced his candidacy in the spring presidential elections, making his second bid for the post. Following his defeat in April 2002, Jospin immediately declared his decision to leave politics and stepped down as Prime Minister. He has since made episodic comments on current political affairs; for instance, he declared his opposition to same-sex marriage. In 2005, he returned to the national political scene by campaigning forcefully in favor of the proposed European Constitution. In 2006, Jospin made it known that he was "available" to be the Socialist candidate for the 2007 presidential election. When Ségolène Royal became ascendant in the polls, however, Jospin retracted his candidacy. Link to Wikipedia biography