Barre, Raymond

Related Category: French History: Biographies

(bär), 1924–2007, French politician. He studied at the Institut D'Études Politiques, taught, and then, in 1959, became an economic adviser to the government of Charles de Gaulle. He later was the European Economic Community's commissioner for economic and financial affairs (1967–73). In 1976, he became minister of foreign trade and then succeeded Jacques Chirac as premier, serving from 1976 to 1981. A conservative politician, he pursued an austere economic program. He was elected to the national assembly in 1978 as a member of the Union for French Democracy (UDF). In 1988 Barre placed third in the presidential election, behind François Mitterrand and Chirac. He served as mayor of Lyons, France, from 1995 to 2001.