Long after his death, Mitterrand continues to stir passions

Paris's socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoe won approval for the move by the city council, despite strong objections by centre-right and Green Party members.

They argued that Mitterrand's alleged corruption and his links with France's collaborationist regime during World War II made him unfit to have a street named after him.

But Mr Delanoe secured a large majority for the decision on Tuesday, thanks to a socialist majority in the council.

After the vote, the mayor expressed surprise at the objections raised.

"I didn't expect these violent words," he said.

Some conservative politicians had said residents should have been consulted. But socialists replied that no-one lives on the riverside thoroughfare which is to be renamed.

Chequered past

During the war, when he was in his twenties, Mitterrand both worked for the collaborationist Vichy regime and headed an anti-Nazi underground group.

He became a minister in the 1950s, founded France's Socialist Party in 1971, was elected president in 1981 and remained in power until 1994.

Under his presidency the governing Socialist Party was dogged by allegations of corruption and influence peddling.

Mitterrand died of cancer in 1996, at the age of 79.

The Paris street bearing his name will be located along the Seine river, near the Louvre palace and the Tuileries gardens.