Edith Cresson

Edith was born on 27 January 1934 and is the first and only woman to have held the office of Prime Minister of France. She is currently married and has two daughters. Cresson studied at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and after graduation became a consultant in private industry. She is active in the Socialist party and became national secretary of the party in 1975. She was elected to the European Assembly in 1979. Cresson held ministerial appointments of agriculture and forestry, trade and tourism and industrial redeployment and foreign trade.

On May 15, 1991 Edith Cresson was appointed as prime minster of France by President Francois Mitterrand. However she became very unpopular and had to leave office less than one year later. Edith had strong opinions of Japanese trade practices with her words, "yellow ants trying to take over the world." This led to her being reputed as a racist. Cresson's government policies began the Urban Framework of 1991 that fought to ensure a right to the city for all citizens. She moved to improve building access for people with disabilities. Cresson lead the fight to help firms with under 500 employees become competitive on the international market.

Cresson is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders whose mission is to empower women with equitable development. Cresson was the star in fraud allegations in 1999. It was reported that Cresson, as Research Commissioner, failed to act when it was reported there were large sums of money missing from a youth training program she oversaw.

Her appointment as a European commissioner for science, education and research led her to make controversial decisions. Her continued inaction in regard to financial irregularities led to fraud and corruption allegations. In 1999 the entire European Commission resigned. Cresson was served with charges in 2003 and in 2006 she was found guilty of favoritism and misconduct. No punishment or penalty was ever levied against her.