 In May 1995, Jacques Chirac (RPR right-wing party) had been elected president.The new prime minister Alain Juppé then proposed an extensive program of welfare cutbacks, the Juppé Plan, intended to reduce the budget deficit from 5% to 3% as required by the 1993 Maastricht Treaty.October and November saw a students' movement against the conservative agenda of the new government and its perceived attack on women's rights, notably the right to abortion and contraception.