PARIS – Raymond Barre, a tough-speaking former French prime minister and economist who refused to bow to protesters or political alliances, has died, his family said today. He was 83.

Barre died at a Paris hospital, where he was being treated for heart problems, family members said. He had been receiving treatment for several months, they said.

He was prime minister of France in 1976-81 during a 30-year political career that also included posts as vice president of the European Commission, French economics minister and mayor of Lyon. He made an unsuccessful run for president in 1988.

Highly suspicious of the media and political alliances, Barre spoke sparingly in public and kept his circle of friends small.

Barre never joined a political party, though he was linked to the center-right UDF. He used this position to his advantage by playing free agent as a lawmaker in the National Assembly, often voting with the left-wing opposition to the frustration of his conservative allies.

Still, top politicians from France’s governing conservative party expressed their sorrow at Barre’s death.

President Sarkozy called Barre a “free and independent spirit” and hailed his “passion for France.”

“His international experience and the loftiness of his views made of him … a unique personality among France’s political players,” Mr. Sarkozy said in a statement today.

Born April 12, 1924, in Saint-Denis on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, Barre studied at the Reunion Law School before being mobilized into the army in 1944. Attached to an artillery unit stationed in Madagascar, the war finished before he could ship out.

He then moved to Paris, where he studied at the Institute of Political Science and received a doctorate in law and economics from the University of Paris in 1950.

Charles de Gaulle asked Barre to represent France at the European Commission in Brussels in 1972, where he helped form the economic policies of the future European Union. Former President Valery Giscard d’Estaing called Barre “the best economist in France.”

When he returned to France, Barre replaced Jacques Chirac as prime minister, sparking a rivalry that lasted into the 21st century and split the right in France. Barre served as prime minister from 1976 to 1981 under Giscard.

To combat an economic crisis of the late 1970s, Barre imposed strict policies to curb inflation and public spending that resulted in thousands of layoffs.

When faced with strong opposition from the unions, Barre dismissed street protesters and told them to get back to work.

In response to these policies, Mr. Chirac led a group of defectors to found another right-wing party, the RPR. Barre remained close to the UDF.
In 1988, as both conservative parties ran, Mr. Chirac and Barre split the vote, helping Socialist President Mitterrand win re-election. But Mr. Chirac was to finally win out as his RPR party grew in strength and he became prime minister a second time, before going on to win the presidency in 1995.

Barre remained in the National Assembly. He was elected mayor of Lyon in 1995, and retired from politics in 2002.

He continued to teach economics at the prestigious Institute of Political Sciences in Paris throughout his life. He was named professor emeritus in 1994.