Leader of the Unified Socialist Party who later embodied the "second left" of the Socialist Party as prime minister
Born in Courbevoie in 1930, the son of the physicist Yves Rocard, he joined the SFIO students in 1949, graduated from the ENA and became an inspector of finance. Opposing the Algerian War, he left the party, and his report on the Algerian internment camps caused a scandal. He led the Unified Socialist Party from 1967 to 1973 and ran in the 1969 presidential election, then joined the Socialist Party in 1974, where he embodied the reformist, anti-communist "second left" and rivalled Mitterrand. As prime minister from 1988 to 1991 he created the minimum integration income and brought about the Matignon Accords on New Caledonia. He sat in the European Parliament from 1994 to 2009.
Activities and affiliations
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1949–1958
French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO)
Social movements and organizing -
1969–1997
Legislature and state representation
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1981–1991
France state institutionsMinister of Agriculture, Prime MinisterHeads of state and government of FranceMain
Government and administration -
1994–2009
Legislature and state representation
Career Timeline
- 1967.06.25–1973.11.26National Secretary of the Unified Socialist Party
- 1969.10.27–1973.04.01Deputy for the Yvelines
- 1977–1994Mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine
- 1981.05.22–1983.03.23Minister of State, Minister of Planning and Land Development
- 1983.03.23–1985.04.04Minister of Agriculture
- 1988.05.10–1991.05.15Prime Minister
- 1993.10.24–1994.06.19First Secretary of the Socialist Party
- 1994.07.19–2009.01.31Member of the European Parliament