Francis Mer, former Minister of the Economy under Jacques Chirac, is dead

Former Minister of the Economy Francis Mer died at the age of 84, former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the former communications director of the Usinor group, where Francis Mer had worked, and the chief of staff of the mayor of Bourg-la-Reine, where the politician lived. His funeral is planned for November 8 in Bourg-la-Reine (Hauts-de-Seine), said Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He paid tribute on (ex-Twitter) to the ex-minister who, according to him, “uncompromising ethics, integral loyalty, a desire to serve”.

“There are industrialists who leave their mark on their country, at Saint-Gobain as at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry, Francis Mer has served France with rigor and passion”reacted on the same social network the current Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. “He was a very demanding boss but a real boss, whom I greatly esteemed, (…) who knew what had to be done and knew how to train people”testified to AFP Pierre Bourrier, former communications director of the Usinor group, who specified that Francis Mer had died on Tuesday.

A mining engineer who also attended the Ecole Polytechnique, Francis Mer, a big boss known for his outspokenness, participated in the destiny of large industrial groups, from Saint-Gobain, which he joined at the very beginning of the 1970s, to Usinor- Sacilor (now ArcelorMittal), or more recently Safran. Without political experience, Francis Mer also occupied for two years, from May 2002 to March 2004, the chair of a super-ministry bringing together the economy, finance and industry in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, under Jacques Chirac.