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IN PICTURES: The defining moments of Hollande’s presidency

François Hollande's presidency has been overshadowed by an unprecedented wave of jihadist attacks, violent protests over labour reforms and revelations about his messy private life.

Published: 2 December 2016 09:57 CET

IN PICTURES: The defining moments of Hollande's presidency

Hollande and Gayet chatting on a terrace of the Elysée Palace. Photo: Voici

Following are some of the defining moments of his mandate which began in 2012 and which he confirmed Thursday would be his last.

Three major terror attacks

Since January 2015, 238 people have been killed in a series of jihadist attacks, mostly the work of French radicals acting in the name of Islamic State (IS) or other extremist groups.

Hollande leans over the coffin of late Police officer Ahmed Merabet who was killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015. Photo: AFP

Hollande won praise for rallying a shocked nation after the first attacks on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket.

Around 50 heads of state joined him on a march against terror that brought over 3.7 million people onto the streets of France.

Photo: AFP

Ten months later, he reacted quickly when IS massacred 130 people in Paris at the Bataclan concert hall, at cafes and bars, and outside the national stadium.

Hollande flanked by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem stands among students as they hold a minute of silence in the courtyard of the Sorbonne University in Paris on November 16, 2016.

Hollande immediately announced a state of emergency, declaring that France was “at war” and deploying troops to patrol the streets.

Hollande deploys a plaque at the Bataclan concert hall, a prime target of the November attacks in Paris where 130 people were killed on November 13, 2015. Photo: AFP

But in July, when a 31-year-old Tunisian mowed down 86 people enjoying Bastille Day festivities in Nice, accusations began to mount that Hollande's government was failing to rise to the threat of extremism.

Visiting the command centre for France's anti-terror “Vigipirate” plan at the fort of Vincennes, on the outskirts of Paris, in July 2016. Photo: AFP

A tumultuous private life

Before coming to office Hollande took jabs at the romantic antics of his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy — who married supermodel Carla Bruni while president — vowing that on personal matters, he himself would be “exemplary”.

But cracks quickly began to show in Hollande's relationship with long-term partner Valerie Trierweiler, and the couple split after it emerged he had been having an affair with an actress nearly 20 years his junior, Julie Gayet.

Photo: AFP

Trierweiler published a best-selling memoir that proved deeply embarrassing to Hollande, not least through its claim that the Socialist leader disdained the poor.

Photo: AFP

To make matters more complicated, Hollande has four children from an earlier relationship with Environment Minister Segolene Royal.

Violent labour protests

Hollande came to power on a leftist platform — including a top tax rate of 75 percent — but later shifted towards business-friendly policies, notably trying to tackle France's famously rigid labour laws.

Riot police in Paris during the protests. Photo: AFP

His government suffered months of violent protests this year over reforms designed to make it easier to hire people but also easier to fire them, before finally managing to get a watered-down version passed over the summer.

Foreign wars

Hollande launched a military operation in Mali in January 2013 to stop the advance of Islamists who had taken over swathes of northern Mali, a former French colony.

Hollande salutes Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris. Photo: AFP

The following December, a second operation was launched in the Central African Republic — another former colonial possession — in a bid to restore stability to a country gripped by religious violence.

Jihadists remain active in Mali and a vast portion of the country remains out of government control, while violence also remains rife in CAR.

Hollande in front of the coffin of a French soldier killed in service in Mali. Photo: AFP

Hollande also sought to intervene in Syria in 2013, but backed out of air strikes when it became clear that US President Barack Obama did not intend to follow suit.

Photo: AFP

France only began air strikes in Syria in late 2015 as part of an international coalition targeting IS. French raids against IS in Iraq had begun a year earlier in September 2014.

Row over French nationality

After the Paris attacks, Hollande sought to modify the constitution to allow convicted terrorists to be stripped of their French nationality if they were dual-nationals.

The issue sparked fierce debate over the ethics of such a move, with Hollande's Justice Minister Christiane Taubira quitting in protest.

Hollande and Taubira. Photo: AFP

Hollande finally axed the idea in March. In his announcement Thursday that he would not seek re-election, he flagged up the row as the one major regret of his presidency

Global climate deal

Hollande campaigned hard for the historic climate agreement signed in Paris last December, and hailed it in his speech Thursday as one of his key achievements.

Celebrating the the adoption of a historic global warming pact at the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris. Photo: AFP

Hollande shakes hands with Ecuadorians at a stand at the COP21 summit in Paris. Photo: AFP

Gay marriage

The Socialist leader had made “marriage for all” one of his election pledges, and same-sex marriages were signed into law in April 2013, despite angry protests by tens of thousands of social conservatives.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.