Former French prime minister Édouard Balladur died in Paris late Monday at the age of 97, his family said. Born in Turkey, he served as former president Francois Mitterrand's last prime minister from March 1993 to May 1995, carrying out several major privatisations of state companies, and unsuccessfully ran for the top job in 1995.
President Emmanuel Macron said Balladur was a man who "had France at heart" and a "devoted servant of the nation", while former president Nicolas Sarkozy said he had lost "an example, a mentor and a friend".
