It marked a shift away from traditional socialist concerns with state ownership and instead looked for ways to modernize industry, and increase productivity, even at the cost of some jobs.

[7] The government, however, reduced the daily maternity allowance from 90% to 84% of the basic wage, while the reimbursement rate of so-called "comfort" medicinal products was also lowered.

[8] In June 1985, a law was passed allowing first offenders who had committed petty crimes to serve sentences of six months or less in public-service jobs.

[9] A decree of September 1984 reconstituted the Supreme Council for the Prevention of Occupational Risks, a consultative body representing both sides of industry, to make it function more flexibly, and was extended to include crafts.

[6] A law of January 1985 extended the scope for associations whose formal objectives include combating racism to institute a civil action where an offence has been committed against an individual by reason of his national or ethnic origin, race or religion.

A special 1985 holiday programme was introduced, directed particularly at young people outside the traditional circuits of organised leisure activities.

Vast sums were provided to improve technical education in schools, with closer ties established between education and industry, a programme was launched to train 25,000 teachers per annum in the use of computers, 100,000 computers were purchased for students to use, and 1 billion francs were provided for purchasing modern machine tools.

The contrat d'adaptation (CA) was aimed at facilitating the hiring of young workers by adapting existing skills to the work setting.

The stages d'initiation a La vie professionnelle (SIVP) provided schoolleavers with an initiation into work life to enable them to sample and then choose a career.

A law of January 1985 widened the scope of certain social provisions, including the encouragement of training work experience schemes for young people by setting up introductory apprenticeships and extending the fifth week of annual paid holiday to nursery school assistants.

A law of July 1985, while increasing the number of cases in which a firm could use temporary workers and relaxing conditions regarding the duration of certain types of contracts, also introduced changes in the rules relating to the duration of probation periods and made it harder to re-employ temporary workers in the same job before a waiting period has expired, etc.

These leaves suspended (but did not break) the work contract for a period of up to two years, and during this time the individual received 70% of their previous wage together with retraining in a new occupation.

The revamped congé de conversion offered redundant workers 65% of their previous salary (in line with the benefits for early retirement and unemployment compensation) and a training period of 4–10 months.

A year earlier, in 1984, the Fabius government established the travaux d'utilite collective (TUC) programme to prepare school leavers for professional life.

This scheme offered unemployed youth between the ages of 16 and 21 (extended to 25 in 1985), the opportunity to work half time in a public sector job.

Subject to certain conditions regarding previous activity and resources, the daily solidarity allowance paid to them was raised from FF 42 to FF.64.50 on 1 April.

A decree of April 1985 laid down technical instructions to be observed by occupational physicians responsible for medical checks on employees exposed to substances which may cause malignant damage to the bladder.

The obligation to negotiate agreements on the way in which this right is exercised, which used to be limited to firms employing at least 200 workers, was extended to all businesses where trade unions had established one or more sections and appointed a shop steward.

A law of February 1986 amending the labour code included various changes e.g. to ensure that wage-earners received a stable income, independent of fluctuations in weekly working hours.

A decree on the protection of workers exposed to benzene was issued in February 1986 with the purpose of simplifying and updating the relevant regulations, most of which dated back to 1939.

The procedures for forwarding documents concerning inspections and verifications for health and safety purposes were laid down in a decree dated 13 March 1986.

After the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship, on 10 July 1985, Prime Minister Fabius summoned journalists to his office on 22 September 1985 to read a 200-word statement in which he said: "The truth is cruel," and acknowledged that "Agents of the French secret service sank this boat.

In 1989, he was elected to the European Parliament where he served on the Committee on Institutional Affairs, while simultaneously remaining President of the National Assembly.

[citation needed] He came back as president of the National Assembly in 1997, then as Minister of Economy and Finance in Lionel Jospin's cabinet between 2000 and 2002.

His mandate had three milestones: As foreign minister, Fabius was also chair of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference which took place in Paris.

Re-elected in 2008 Political functions First Secretary (leader) of the Socialist Party (France): 1992–93 Changes Fabius has declared over $7.9 million of assets, including a flat in Paris worth €2.7m and two country houses in Normandy and the Ariège.