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PARIS (AP) — French authorities say former Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard has died at age 85 in a Paris hospital.
French President Francois Hollande issued a statement Saturday regretting the loss of a "great figure of the Republic and the left."
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Rocard, who died Saturday, had been waging a "fight against disease." He did not elaborate.
Rocard was prime minister from 1988 to 1991 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. He notably created a minimum allowance for poor people who had no other income.
Rocard defended anti-colonialist views during the Algerian war in the 1950s and early 1960s. He also developed his own political style in the Socialist Party in the 1980s, pushing for more pro-business and reformist policies.
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