Prime Ministers Of Modern France

France, officially known as the French Republic, is a country that consists of a mainland area known as "Metropolitan France" in Europe, in addition to several overseas territories. Metropolitan France covers an area of approximately 248,573 square miles and has a population of around 66.7 million residents. Its capital city is Paris. It is a member of the European Union, World Trade Organization, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). France adopted its current constitution during a referendum in 1958, and the constitution established the post of the president in its current form. The president is the head of state, and the post of the prime minister, who is appointed by the president, is the head of the government.

Michel Debré

Michael Jean-Pierre Debre, popularly known as Michael Debre, was the first prime minister of France. He is admired by the French and most considered him as the “father of the French constitution". He served as the prime minister from 1959 to 1962 under President Charles de Gaulle. Debre served as a Calvary officer in the French army in 1939. He took part in several battles against the Germans. In 1958, he was made the minister of justice by General de Gaulle, he also served as the minister of economy and finance and the minister of defense under President Georges Pompidou. During his period as a prime minister, he strained his relationship with the president on matters concerning the management of overseas colonies particularly Algeria. When Algeria finally secured its independence, President Gaulle replaced him with Georges Pompidou and due to the political tension, he fled to the island of Reunion. He later returned to serve as a minister in the government of President Georges Pompidou.

Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac was the only French Prime minister to have served two terms under two different presidents. He served from 1974 to 1976, and again from 1986 to 1988. Chirac also served as the major of Paris from 1977 to 1995 and finally served as the nation's president from 1995 to 2007. He served his first term under President Valery Giscard Estaing. Chirac's first task as the prime minister was to reconcile disputes between the Giscardian and the non-Giscardian factions. However, President Giscard was reluctant to relinquish some of his authority to the Prime Minister concerning the issue of Gaullism, he resigned in 1976 and was elected mayor of Paris. When Mitterrand won the presidential election of 1988, he elected Chirac as the Prime Minister. He is remembered for privatizing government institutions. He ran for the presidency in the 1988 election but only managed 20% of the votes. He later served as the president from 1995 to 2002

Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti

Manuel Valls has been the prime minister of France since 2014. Before his appointment to the prime minister position, he had served as the Minister of the Interior. He is the son of a Spanish father and a Swedish mother. He began his political career at a tender age of 17 when he joined the French Socialist Party. He became a parliamentary attaché from 1983 until 1986, and was later to be elected as a regional councilor, where he served until 1992. He was subsequently elected vice president of the Regional Council for the Île-de-France, a post he held until 2002. He was elected mayor of Evry and served from 2001 to 2012. Valls took office in March of 2014, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault who resigned. Valls angered the French citizens after the Nice attack when he said that the French people have to live with the threat of terrorism.