In 1974, he joined
François Mitterrand and the renewed
Socialist Party (PS), which had replaced the old SFIO. Most of the PSU members and a part of the
French and Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) trade union – the non-
Marxist section of the left that Rocard famously defined as the "Second Left" – followed him. Elected mayor of
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in 1977, he led the opposition to Mitterrand inside the Socialist Party (as a candidate of the right wing of the party). After the defeat of the left at the
1978 legislative election, he tried to take over the leadership of the party. In spite of his alliance with
Pierre Mauroy, the number 2 of the PS, he lost at the
Metz Congress (1979). As the Socialist Party's most popular politician at the time (including Mitterrand himself), he announced that he would run for president; but his "Call of Conflans" did not result in majority support within the PS, and he withdrew his candidacy. Mitterrand was the successful Socialist candidate in the
1981 presidential election. From the 1970s to the 1990s, Rocard's group inside the Socialist Party, known as "
les rocardiens", advocated a re-alignment of French socialism through a clearer acceptance of the
market economy, more
decentralisation and less
state control. It was largely influenced by Scandinavian
social democracy, and stood in opposition to Mitterrand's initial agenda of
nationalization, programmed in the
110 Propositions for France. Nonetheless, the "
rocardiens" always remained a minority.
In government Under Mitterrand's first presidency, he was
Minister of Territorial Development and
Minister of Planning from 1981 to 1983 and
Minister of Agriculture from 1983 to 1985. He resigned from the cabinet in due to his opposition to the introduction of the
proportional system for the legislative elections. He hoped, in vain, that Mitterrand would not run for re-election so he could be the PS candidate in the
1988 presidential election. After Mitterrand's re-election, he was chosen as Prime Minister (
May 1988 – May 1991). Indeed, Rocard was popular and his position, on the right wing of the PS, corresponded with the slogan of the electoral campaign, "a United France." He formed a cabinet including 4 center-right ministers. As Prime Minister, he led the
Matignon Accords regarding the status of
New Caledonia, which ended the troubles in this overseas territory. His record in office also include a decrease in unemployment and a large-scale reform of the welfare state's financing system. He created a minimum social assistance scheme, the
RMI, which helped to alleviate poverty.
Party leadership Rocard's poor relations with Mitterrand, notably during his mandate as Prime Minister, were notorious. In addition, the Socialists only held a small parliamentary majority. In 1991, when his popularity decreased, President Mitterrand forced him to resign. However, according to Mauroy, who led the party, Rocard stood as the "natural candidate" for the following presidential elections. After the
1993 electoral disaster, he became leader of the PS by advocating a political "big-bang", that was to say a questioning of the
left/right divide. His speech did not have the desired effect. Rocard remained as leader of the Socialist Party for only one year, in part because of the PS's complete defeat during the
1994 European elections. The defeat was in part due to the success of the list of the
Left Radicals Movement, which was covertly supported by President Mitterrand. Consequently, he was toppled by the left wing of the party and lost his last chance to run for president the next year. Having lost his deputy's seat in 1993, he became Senator of Yvelines from 1995 to 1997. His supporters within the Socialist Party became allies of candidate
Lionel Jospin, who was Prime Minister in 1997–2002, and then
Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Member of European Parliament Rocard was a member of the
European Parliament (1994–2009), and chaired the
Committee on Development and Cooperation (1997–1999), the
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (1999–2002) and the
Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. Michel Rocard was known for his hostility for
proposed directives to allow
software patents in Europe, and has been an outspoken opponent of what he considers to be manoeuvres to force the decision on this issue. On the French political scene, Rocard presented himself as the political heir of
Pierre Mendès-France, known for his moral rigour, and as the politician who "speaks the truth". After Mitterrand's death, he caused controversy when he said, about the former president, "he was not an honest man". An impersonator mocked him for his problems of elocution. In the run up to the
presidential elections in 2007, Rocard called for an alliance between the Socialists and the centrist
Union for French Democracy (UDF) party of
François Bayrou in an effort to defeat
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidate
Nicolas Sarkozy.
Ségolène Royal, the PS candidate, rejected any such compromise, lamenting that she was once again obliged to face obstacles from within her own party. Rocard also publicly admitted, after the election, having asked Ségolène Royal to step down in his favor in March 2007, one month before the first round of voting. Like other Socialist politicians, such as
Jack Lang or
Hubert Védrine, who accepted similar positions, Rocard accepted a post on the Committee on the re-evaluation of the teaching profession, which was placed under the "high authority" of Sarkozy's
Minister of Education Xavier Darcos. Criticized by
Medhi Ouraoui, national delegate of the PS, Rocard claimed it was a "democrat's duty" to participate in such Commissions and that he was "not concerned" by the "game of the President of the Republic [consisting of making of such left-wing participations] political symbols". Rocard was also a supporter of the
Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations. ==Political career==