Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin (born August 3, 1948) is a French right-wing politician.

Born in Poitiers. He studied law at Paris-Assas University and later graduated from the Ecole supérieure de commerce de Paris business school. He has been the Prime Minister since April 2002. He was named by President Jacques Chirac after the victory of the UMP to the legislative elections.

His political policy combines communication, authority and neoliberalism. In 2003, he launched the reform of the public retirement scheme and that of the decentralization, which caused many strikes. During the summer of 2003, the country knew an unusual episode of heat wave which caused the death of more than 13,000 people: the perceived late reaction of the governement was reproached to him.

See also:

• List of Prime Ministers of France
• Politics of France

• http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/fr/p.cfm?ref=411 Biography (In French)
• BBC Profile (in English)