It is with great sadness that we have just learned of the death of Michel DURAFOUR, former Mayor of Saint-Étienne and former Minister, at the age of 97 years. He and his wife had a deep friendship with Mrs. Simone Veil and her husband. They were very close and shared many moments of intimacy. Recently, Michel Durafour's wife, Maryse, declared that "She (Mrs. Simone Veil) had supported him a lot ... And my husband had also supported it at the time of the law for abortion ". By chance of life and history, he disappears less than a month after the death of Simone Veil.
Personally, I knew him very well and very much appreciated. He was a good and faithful man, values rarely shared in the political world. Radical and Giscardien of the first hour, he supported the candidacy of Raymond Barre in 1988. Faced with the failure of it, and bitterness (like many Giscardians) vis-à-vis Chirac, he organized between the two rounds a rally of the barrists for Mitterrand! Thus he put on the baptismal funds, the Association of Democrats of which he was the founder and one of the pillars. I had the honor and the pleasure of participating in the founding of this movement that was the basis of the opening of the Rocard government (1988-1991). This Movement contributed to the action of Michel Rocard with the participation of 10 ministers out of 30 in his government!
A controversy, well known, opposed him to Jean-Marie Le Pen who spoke about him defamatory allegations.
Michel DURAFOUR will remain in our memories as a man of moderation and conviction, loving a remarkable and noticed altruism, attached to his convictions and faithful to his friends.
We pass on to our family, our friends and all those who knew it our sincere condolences
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The former minister and mayor of Saint-Etienne, who had been hospitalized for six months, died Thursday, July 27 at the age of 97.
The expression was invented for him and the handful of centrists who had accepted the outstretched hand of François Mitterrand in 1988: Michel Durafour was one of the first "opening ministers". The political gesture had struck at the time and the formula has remained since. It was not surprising, however, that the Stephanois embarked on such an adventure.
Minister of Labor Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1974-1976), this former Radical Socialist Party had led a reform of the "Social Security for all" when the protection regime still excluded a million French. Fifteen years later, under the presidency of François Mitterrand, the former UDF, now Minister of the Civil Service and Administrative Reforms, embarked on the creation of a minimum service or grueling renegotiations of grids. Social in the government of Jacques Chirac, liberal in that of Michel Rocard, the man said promoter of "dialogue and negotiation" in all circumstances.
He leaves twenty novels published
Born April 11, 1920, son of the radical socialist mayor of Saint-Etienne Antoine Durafour, Michel Durafour remained attached to his lands of the Loire throughout his career. He was mayor of Saint-Étienne in turn from 1964 to 1977, but also senator (1965-1967 and 1983-1988) and elected deputy four times. He left his last term at the Regional Council of Rhône-Alpes in 1997.
One of his last interventions in the field remains to have accepted to animate the committee of support to the candidacy of Ségolène Royal during the presidential of 2007.
Throughout his life and as soon as he had the leisure, this former journalist, who taught at the University of Lyon-III, devoted himself to his passion for writing; he leaves about twenty published novels, including police or espionage. Michel Durafour died Thursday at age 97, surrounded by his wife Maryse and two children.
Source: © Le Figaro Premium - Former centrist minister Michel Durafour has passed away
L’ancien ministre centriste Michel Durafour est décédé added by RichardA on
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