Editing Pierre Messmer (section)

== From the 1970s to the 2000s ==
<!--  Commented out because image was deleted: [[File:PMChirac.jpg|thumb|On 29 May 1974 [[Jacques Chirac]] (left) replaced Pierre Messmer (right) as prime minister on the steps of the [[Hôtel Matignon]].]] -->
He occupied cabinet positions again in the 1970s, serving first as [[Minister of state]] charged of [[Minister of Overseas Territories (France)|the Overseas Territories]] in 1971,<ref name=1972speech>[http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/acteurs/premier_ministre/histoire_chefs_gouvernement_28/pierre_messmer_217/discours_politique_generale_pierre_50335.html Discours de politique générale] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927233549/http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/acteurs/premier_ministre/histoire_chefs_gouvernement_28/pierre_messmer_217/discours_politique_generale_pierre_50335.html |date=27 September 2007 }} (General Politics Speech) of Messmer during his 1972 investiture, French government's website {{in lang|fr}}</ref> then as Prime Minister from July 1972 to May 1974.

=== Messmer's cabinet (July 1972 – May 1974) ===

He succeeded in this function to [[Jacques Chaban-Delmas]], who had adopted a [[parliamentarism|parliamentary reading]] of the [[Constitution (France)|Constitution]], which Messmer opposed in his investiture speech.<ref name=1972speech /> Messmer had been chosen by Pompidou as a guarant of his fidelity to de Gaulle, and his cabinet included personalities close to Pompidou, such as [[Jacques Chirac]], named Minister of Agriculture.<ref name=Politique>[http://www.politique.net/annees-pompidou/gouvernement-messmer.htm Le gouvernement de Pierre Messmer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070919224736/http://www.politique.net/annees-pompidou/gouvernement-messmer.htm |date=19 September 2007 }}, politique.net, {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

Due to President [[Georges Pompidou]]'s illness, he dealt with the everyday administration of the country and adopted a conservative stance opposed to Chaban-Delmas' previous policies. Henceforth, he stopped the liberalization of the [[ORTF]] media governmental organization, naming as its CEO [[Arthur Conte]], a personal friend of Pompidou.<ref name=Politique />

Under his government, the [[Union des Démocrates pour la République]] (UDR) presidential majority negotiated with [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]]'s [[Independent Republicans]] an electoral alliance, which enabled it to win the [[1973 French legislative election|1973 elections]] despite the [[French Left|left-wing union]] realized with the 1972 [[Programme commun|Common Program]].<ref name=Politique /> Messmer's second cabinet excluded several Gaullists, among whom [[Michel Debré]], while he named several Independent Republicans members, such as [[Michel Poniatowski]], close to Giscard, himself named [[Minister of Economy (France)|Minister of Economy and Finances]].<ref name=Politique /> A [[Minister of Information (France)|Ministry of Information]] was also re-created and put under the authority of an ultra-conservative, [[Philippe Malaud]].<ref name=Politique /> In June 1974, he initiated the [[Nuclear power in France|construction of 13 nuclear plants]] in order to confront the "''[[1973 oil crisis|choc pétrolier]]''" (oil crisis).<ref name=Monde /><ref>[http://www.premierministre.gouv.fr/acteurs/premier_ministre/histoire_chefs_gouvernement_28/pierre_messmer_217/interview_televisee_pierre_messmer_50630.html Interview of Pierre Messmer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930055734/http://www.premierministre.gouv.fr/acteurs/premier_ministre/histoire_chefs_gouvernement_28/pierre_messmer_217/interview_televisee_pierre_messmer_50630.html |date=30 September 2007 }} on 3 June 1974 (film), on the French government's website {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

In 1974, when Pompidou died, those close to Messmer encouraged him to run for president. He accepted at the condition of Chaban-Delmas, [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] and [[Edgar Faure]]'s withdrawals. Faure accepted, as well as Giscard on the condition that Chaban-Delmas also withdrew himself. However, Chaban-Delmas, despite the ''[[Canard enchaîné]]''{{'}}s campaign against him, maintained himself, leading Messmer to withdraw his candidacy. Finally, [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]], a conservative rival of the Gaullists, was [[1974 French presidential election|elected]]. He served as prime minister for another few weeks after Pompidou's death, ending his term after the presidential elections. [[Jacques Chirac]] replaced him on 29 May 1974.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.premierministre.gouv.fr/acteurs/premier_ministre/histoire_chefs_gouvernement_28/pierre_messmer_217/passation_pouvoir_entre_pierre_50629.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930055725/http://www.premierministre.gouv.fr/acteurs/premier_ministre/histoire_chefs_gouvernement_28/pierre_messmer_217/passation_pouvoir_entre_pierre_50629.html|url-status=dead|title=Video of the passing of powers between Messmer and Chirac|archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> After the election of Giscard, he never held again ministerial offices, and became one of the historical voices of Gaullism.<ref name=RFI />

=== Later career and death ===
Messmer remained a Member of Parliament for the Moselle department until 1988, and served as President of the [[Lorraine (region)|Lorraine]] regional assembly from 1968 to 1992. He was mayor of the town of [[Sarrebourg]] from 1971 to 1989. Messmer was also president of the [[Rally for the Republic]] (RPR) parliamentary group during the first [[cohabitation (government)|cohabitation]] (1986–1988), under [[Jacques Chirac]]'s government.<ref name=Monde /> In 1997 he testified as a witness during the trial of [[Maurice Papon]], charged of [[crimes against humanity]] committed under the [[Vichy regime]], and declared: "The time has come when the Frenchmen could stop hating themselves and begin to grant pardon to themselves".<ref>French: "''Le temps est venu où les Français pourraient cesser de se haïr et commencer de se pardonner"'', quoted by Thomas Ferenczi in [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3382,36-949062,0.html?xtor=RSS-3208 Le gaulliste Pierre Messmer est mort] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908185613/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3382,36-949062,0.html?xtor=RSS-3208 |date=8 September 2007 }}, ''[[Le Monde]]'', 29 August 2007 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Along with some other former Resistants, he demanded Papon's [[pardon]] in 2001.<ref name=Monde />

He died in 2007 aged 91, just four days after fellow Prime Minister [[Raymond Barre]]. He was the last surviving major French Politician to have been a member of the Free French forces.