Juppé, Alain Marie

(b. Mont-de-Marsan, 15 Aug. 1948) French; Prime Minister 1995 – 7 The son of a farmer, Juppé had an impressive school career at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand followed by the IFP and the École Normale Supérieur (where he qualified as a classics teacher) and graduated from the ENA in 1972. By 1976 he was Jacques Chirac's economic adviser and rapidly became Chirac's second in command. As an impressive administrator (known as "Amstrad" because of his facility with figures) he was in charge of the Budget for Paris in 1979 and in the 1980s he became identified with free-market ideas as a result (possibly) of visits to America. In the 1980s he was somewhat overshadowed by other personalities but established himself as Chirac's key lieutenant in the 1988 elections. In the wake of Jacques Chirac's 1988 presidential defeat he kept the RPR behind Chirac and out of the orbit of Séguin and Pasqua. He was not so successful on his own count: an attempt to run for president of Île-de-France in 1992 was thwarted. A Europeanist, he was not in tune with the leadership during the Maastricht campaign and threatened to resign (he frequently pulled Chirac back from more adventurous policies), and during his time as Foreign Minister in the Balladur government (1993 – 5) he arbitrated between the unconditional Chirac supporters and the pro-Balladur camp who wanted the Prime Minister to run for President. During 1991 – 3, while others deserted Chirac, Juppé remained loyal and promoted Chirac's interests inside the government. The worst split in the Balladur government was between Juppé and Interior Minister Pasqua (a pro-Balladur Gaullist) over Algerian policy and in particular over the response to a hijacked plane. This helped Chirac to win the presidency in 1995. In June Juppé took over the City Hall at Bordeaux from the long-serving Gaullist Chaban Delmas and became president of the Neo-Gaullist Party in October. Juppé was in a very powerful position but in the autumn of mid-1995 his government was riven with disagreements, hit by scandals, Bordeaux took to the streets, and a seeming lack of direction set in. In a position of extreme unpopularity, Juppé reshuffled the government, turning it from the most feminine ever to a completely male one and took the long postponed decision to reform the French costly social security in the teeth of opposition from user groups, unions, and doctors. This was immediately unpopular but if successful would have enabled future savings and facilitated the meeting of the "Maastricht criteria" for a single European currency.