100th Birthday of François Mitterrand

A profile portrait of François Mitterrand in a contemplative pose. On the right his personal symbol — the oak tree with the olive branch. On the left the years of his birth and centenary ("1916" and "2016"). His name is engraved above the design. The country abbreviation "RF" is positioned at the bottom.

François Mitterrand was the first socialist president of France's Fifth Republic — an office he held from 1981 to 1995, longer than any other president in modern French history. Born on 26 October 1916 in Jarnac in the Charente department, he shaped French domestic policy through sweeping nationalisations in his first term, the abolition of the death penalty, and the expansion of the welfare state. His political career was anything but straightforward: in his younger years, Mitterrand had ties to conservative circles before becoming the leading figure of the French left. Under him, France experienced cohabitation — governing alongside a prime minister from the opposing political camp — twice, demonstrating his capacity for institutional pragmatism.

In foreign policy, Mitterrand is remembered above all as one of the driving forces of European integration. Together with Chancellor Helmut Kohl, he pursued the deepening of Franco-German cooperation and, with the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, laid the foundation for the European Union in its present form — including the common currency that France would later adopt with the euro. Championing a strong European framework after German reunification was regarded as a strategic priority of his presidency. Mitterrand died on 8 January 1996 in Paris. France issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2016 to mark both his 100th birthday and the 20th anniversary of his death.