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This article contextualises the various attempts at reforming the independence of the Banque de France in the 1980s. It analyses Anglo-Saxon theoretical debates regarding fiscal independence and their slow penetration in France, as well as the expansion of the Banque de France’s legal and operational autonomy under the Mauroy and Fabius governments. The failure of three successive reform projects reveals just how attached French political and administrative leaders were to fiscal and monetary controls, and illustrates their high degree of scepticism regarding the ability of the Banque’s independence to ensure price stability.