Pedro Sánchez mourns the death of Lionel Jospin, “a leading figure of European social democracy”

Eduardo González The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has mourned the death of former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, a “leading figure of European social democracy” whose “commitment to social justice, equality, and a united and supportive Europe continues to inspire us.” “Today we also say goodbye to Lionel Jospin, a leading figure of European social democracy,” Pedro Sánchez wrote on social media. “His commitment to social justice, equality, and a united and supportive Europe continues to inspire us,” he continued. “All my love to his family and loved ones,” he concluded. The socialist Lionel Jospin, Prime Minister during the Presidency of Jacques Chirac, died this Monday, March 23, at the age of 88 after undergoing “serious surgery” last January, according to his family, who provided no further details. Secretary General of the Socialist Party for two periods, from 1981 to 1988 and from 1995 to 1997, and Prime Minister between 1997 and 2002 (during whose term the 35-hour workweek and the Civil Solidarity Pact were adopted), Lionel Jospin also unsuccessfully ran for president twice: in 1995, when he was defeated in the second round by Chirac, and in 2002, when he lost in the first round to the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, of the National Front. Jospin retired from politics as a result of this second setback and did not return, not even in 2007, when his name was floated as a possible Socialist presidential candidate. He ultimately chose to hand over the position to Ségolène Royal. French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on Monday to Lionel Jospin, “first secretary of François Mitterrand’s Socialist Party, Minister of National Education, Prime Minister, and member of the Constitutional Council.” “Thanks to his rigor, his courage, and his ideal of progress, he embodied a lofty vision of the Republic,” he wrote on social media.

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