Lionel Jospin, Former French Prime Minister, Dies Aged 88

Lionel Jospin, French prime minister from 1997 to 2002, died aged 88, Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu confirmed on Monday, following first reports of his death the previous day. "Lionel Jospin has left us," Lecornu said online. "His action, guided by a particular idea of social progress and of republican values, leaves a durable imprint and a model of engagement. Today France loses a loyal servant, whose name will remain tied to the state." Who was Lionel Jospin? Jospin was a leading figure in France's center-left Socialist party for decades, whose most memorable policies included introducing the 35-hour week as prime minister and instituting civil partnerships that gave unmarried couples, both gay and straight, the same rights as married ones. Jospin (left) was President Jacques Chirac's prime minister and his main political rival for several years, culminating in the fateful 2002 presidential elections that led to his retirement from top-tier politics Image: dpa/picture alliance One political slogan that perhaps best summed up his relatively moderate left-of-center position was, "Yes to a market economy, no to a market society." After his spell as prime minister, he became best known for his ill-fated bid for the presidency in 2002's elections. Jospin was part of a three-horse race for the top job in French politics in 2002, challenged by center-right former President Jacques Chirac, and far-right Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, father to today's far-right leader in France Marine Le Pen . Some saw him as the favorite for a second-round runoff, but ultimately he didn't even make it that far. The first round vote was characterized by a dissatisfied electorate lending no single candidate a large share of support. Chirac could only claim 19.88%, while Jospin's 16.18% fell short of Le Pen's 16.86%. He told a documentary filmmaker in 2010 that he had "underestimated" the extent of the divisions within France's various left-leaning factions and the impact that would have on his first round score. It was the first time in modern French history that one of the two traditional center-right and center-left parties lost out to Le Pen's Front National, meaning the far-right leader qualified for the second round runoff. Jospin finishing behind the far-right's Le Pen in the first round shocked France and led to widespread protests prior to the second-round landslide Image: dpa/picture alliance In defeat, Jospin earned admiration by throwing his weight behind his political rival Chirac, urging his supporters to turn out in numbers to support the conservative over Le Pen. Chirac won the second round in a landslide with more than 80% of the vote. The backlash against Le Pen's performance, coupled with the old man's increasingly extreme positions, contributed to a recovery for Jospin's Parti Socialiste in the coming decade, but nevertheless his 2002 travails proved an early warning for the longer-term decline of the party that followed Francois Hollande 's presidency. In the meantime, Jospin's gesture of support for his mainstream rival, Chirac, has turned into a necessary firewall in French politics, recurring in both of Emmanuel Macron 's presidential election victories. Both times, centrists of all stripes rallied behind Macron against Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie's daughter and slightly more moderate political heiress, in second-round runoffs. A similar scenario looks likely , though it's not yet clear who's most likely to challenge the far-right candidate, in next year's presidential vote. What did leading French politicians say after his death? President Macron called Jospin "a towering figure in French politics" in an online tribute. "Through his rigor, his courage and his commitement to progress, he embodied a noble vision of the Republic," Macron said. Former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who for years had close ties to Jospin and the PS, said he had "left a lasting mark on French politics through his dedication, his rigor and his sense of public duty, qualities I was able to appreciate first-hand whilst working alongside him." Olivier Faure, who now leads the PS, said Jospin "embodied a left-wing movement that was demanding, principled and Republican." At a time when our bearings are wavering, his career serves as a reminder that it is possible to govern without pandering to the prevailing trends," Faure said. Marine Le Pen, meanwhile, focused not on Jospin's criticisms of her father's "extreme-right" and "populist" policies, but instead of his objection to referring to France's Front National and Le Pen as "fascist," and a famous 2007 quote when he criticized the "anti-fascist theater" that he felt parts of his party had been guilty of down the years. "Lionel Jospin was a political opponent whose policies we opposed when he was prime minister," Le Pen said. "Nevertheless, he was also a man of integrity on the left, the only one who had the courage, in the aftermath of the 2002 presidential election, to denounce the shameless lie of the fascist threat that was being frantically stirred up by both the right and the left between the two rounds." Le Pen's ally Jordan Bardella, who may run for president next year for the party now known as National Rally (RN) if Le Pen cannot amid an existing fraud conviction and appeal , called Jospin "a leading figure of the Fifth Republic and, despite our differences, an honest man of the left." Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon focused on Jospin's economic legacy, highlighting in particular the introduction of the 35-hour week and "his refusal to move the retirement age." Increasing the retirement age is a policy proposal that has proved impossible to fulfil and continued to plague incumbent Emmanuel Macron for two terms in the present, as it did for Chirac in the past. Segolene Royal, who was the next PS candidate for the presidency in 2007, losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round, paid tribute to Jospin's "unwavering moral compass." "With him, a certain vision of politics is leaving us — one that respects debate and is committed to sound decision-making, without insults or fury," she said. Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko