Michel Rocard in 2012.WIkicommons/ Rama. Some rights reserved.An icon of French social democracy, flag bearer of the “second left”, strong partisan of the “parler vrai” (speaking the truth) – so rare in today's politics where spin doctors are running the show – Michel Rocard passed away on Saturday July 2. He was 85.
Rocard was perhaps the last French, and European, politician who clung to his ideals and moral values in these days of triangulation and so-called efficiency, even at the expense of his own political career.
Deeply and sincerely reformist with a strong social urge, perhaps too far ahead for his time, he was as different as possible from former Labour PM Tony Blair and ex-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who both skilfully converted their political experiences into the art of making money. Or from François Mitterrand's Florentine pragmatism, who was his political nemesis.
