Jacques Chirac

In 1959, after completing studies at the École Nationale d'Administration, Jacques Chirac entered high-level civil service, then soon entered politics. He has since occupied various high-level positions, such as minister of agriculture, prime minister, mayor of Paris, and finally president of France.

Presidency

First term as president

His 18 years as mayor of Paris finally proved the launching pad for his first successful bid for the French presidency. To win he had to first see off a challenge from a fellow Gaullist – prime minister Édouard Balladur (who ran as an independent, though supported by a large share of Chirac's RPR, and finished third in the first round). He then narrowly beat Socialist Party challenger Lionel Jospin in the final runoff election. On his third attempt to win the French presidency, Jacques Chirac finally succeeded in being elected president in May 1995.

Related Topics:
Édouard Balladur - Lionel Jospin - May - 1995

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Shortly after taking office, Chirac – undaunted by international protests by angry environmental groups – insisted upon the resumption of nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia in 1995. Reacting to criticism, Chirac said, "You only have to look back at 1935. ... There were people then who were against France arming itself, and look what happened."

Related Topics:
French Polynesia - 1995 - 1935

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Chirac announced on 1 February 1996 that France had ended "once and for all" its nuclear testing, intending to accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Related Topics:
1 February - 1996 - Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

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Chirac was elected on a platform of tax cuts and job programs, but his policies did little to ease the recent labor strikes during his first months in office. On the domestic front, neoliberal economic austerity measures introduced by Chirac and his conservative prime minister Alain Juppé, including budgetary cutbacks, proved highly unpopular. At about the same time, it became apparent that Juppé and others had obtained preferential conditions for public housing, as well as other perks. At the year's end Chirac faced major workers' strikes.

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One of his nicknames is Chameleon Bonaparte. Another is La Girouette ("the weathervane"). At one point an anti-European Gaullist, he became a champion of the Euro as president.

Related Topics:
Chameleon - Bonaparte - Weathervane - Euro

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Trying to firm up his party's government coalition, in 1997 Chirac dissolved parliament for early legislative elections in a gamble designed to bolster support for his conservative economic program. But this strategy backfired. Chirac's dismissal of the parliament created an uproar, and his power was weakened by the subsequent backlash. The Socialist Party, joined by other parties on the left, soundly defeated Chirac's conservative allies, forcing Chirac into a new period of cohabitation with Jospin as prime minister. This power-sharing arrangement between Chirac and Jospin lasted five years.

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Cohabitation significantly weakened the power of Chirac's presidency. The French president, by a constitutional convention, only controls foreign and military policy—and even then, allocation of funding is under the control of Parliament and under the significant influence of the prime minister. Short of dissolving parliament and calling for new elections, the president was left with little power to influence public policy regarding crime, the economy, and public services. Chirac seized the occasion to periodically criticize Jospin's government.

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Second term as president

At age 69, Chirac faced his fourth presidential campaign in 2002. He was the first choice of fewer than one voter in five in the first round of voting of the presidential elections of April 2002.

Related Topics:
2002 - Presidential elections

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It had been expected that he would face incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin on the second round of elections; instead, Chirac faced controversial right-wing politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the law-and-order, anti-immigrant National Front, and won re-election by a landslide; most parties outside the National Front had called for opposing Le Pen, even if it meant voting for Chirac. Slogans such as "vote for the crook, not for the fascist" or "vote with a clothespin on your nose" appeared.

Related Topics:
Lionel Jospin - Jean-Marie Le Pen - National Front

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"We must reject extremism in the name of the honor of France, in the name of the unity of our own nation," Chirac said before the presidential election. "I call on all French to massively vote for republican ideals against the extreme right." http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/19/chirac.profile.bittermann/

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The left-wing Socialist Party being in thorough disarray following Jospin's defeat, Chirac reorganised politics on the right, establishing a new party — initially called the Union of the Presidential Majority, then the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). The RPR had broken down - a number of members had formed Eurosceptic breakaways. While the Giscardian liberals of the Union of French Democracy (UDF) had moved sharply to the right. The UMP won the parliamentary elections that followed the presidential poll with ease.

Related Topics:
Union for a Popular Movement - Eurosceptic - UDF

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On 14 July 2002 during Bastille Day celebrations, Chirac survived an assassination attempt by a lone gunman with a rifle hidden in a guitar case. The would-be assassin fired a shot towards the presidential motorcade, before being overpowered by bystanders http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_2127000/2127946.stm.The gunman, Maxime Brunerie, underwent psychiatric testing; the violent far-right group with which he was associated, Unité Radicale was then administratively dissolved. Brunerie had also been a candidate for the Mouvement National Républicain far-right party at a local election. Brunerie's trial for attempted murder begun on December 6, 2004; a crucial question was whether the court found that Brunerie's capacity for rational thought was absent (see insanity defense) or merely altered. On December 10, the court, exceeding the sentence pushed for by the prosecution, sentenced Brunerie to 10 years in prison.

Related Topics:
14 July - 2002 - Bastille Day - Assassination - Motorcade - Psychiatric - Far-right - Unité Radicale - Mouvement National Républicain - December 6 - 2004 - Insanity defense - December 10

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Chirac emerged as a leading voice against US president George W. Bush's administration's conduct in the Middle East. Despite intense U.S. pressure, Chirac threatened to veto any resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would authorize the use of force to disarm Iraq until UN weapons inspectors in Iraq were given more time, and tried to rally other governments to his position. (cf. Governments' pre-war positions on invasion of Iraq, Global protests against war on Iraq). Chirac was then the target of various American and British commentators supporting the decisions of president Bush and prime minister Tony Blair, some, like The Sun, engaging in vulgar comparisons. See also anti-French sentiment in the United States. Chirac's ferocious criticism of the US invasion led observers (generally speaking, US Conservatives) to believe that France had been doing business with Iraq in violation of the terms of the Gulf War embargo which may have enabled Iraq president Saddam Hussein to consolidate his power after the disastrous 1991 conflict; however, no proofs were provided. Chirac was also ridiculed by US Conservatives and supporters of Tony Blair's position for pressing opposition to the Iraq invasion for the sake of positioning France as a counterweight to U.S. power, a throwback to de Gaulle's percieved anti-Americanism in the 1960s.

Related Topics:
US - George W. Bush - Governments' pre-war positions on invasion of Iraq - Global protests against war on Iraq - Tony Blair - The Sun - Anti-French sentiment in the United States - Gulf War - Saddam Hussein

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During a state visit to China on April 21, 2005 Chirac's Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin lent support to new "anti-secession" law on Taiwan, allowing China invade Taiwan in the event of Taiwanese independence, and continued to push for a lift of the EU arms embargo against China. France's position was seen as attempting to aid China in altering the balance of power against the US in the East Asia area, of which the control of Taiwan is of utmost importance. This drew widespread condemnation from the US which responded by threatening sanctions against the EU unless the embargo was continued.

Related Topics:
April 21 - Jean-Pierre Raffarin - Taiwan

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On 29 May 2005 a referendum was held in France to decide whether the country should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union. The result was a victory for the No campaign, with 55 per cent of voters rejecting the treaty on a turnout of 69 per cent, dealing a devastating blow to Chirac and the UMP party. Chirac's decision to hold a referendum was thought to have been influenced in part by the surprise announcement that the United Kingdom was to hold a vote of its own. Although the adoption of a Constitution had initially been played down as a 'tidying-up' exercise with no need for a popular vote, as increasing numbers of EU member states announced their intention to hold a referendum, the French government came under increasing pressure to follow suit.

Related Topics:
29 May - 2005 - Referendum - Constitution of the European Union - UMP - United Kingdom

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French voters turned down the proposed document by a wide margin, which was interpreted by some as a rebuke to Chirac and his government, two days later, Jean-Pierre Raffarin resigned and Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister of France.

Related Topics:
Jean-Pierre Raffarin - Dominique de Villepin - Prime Minister of France

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In an address to the nation, Chirac has declared that the new cabinet's top priority would be to curb the unemployment level, which consistently hovers above 10%, calling for a "national mobilization" to that effect. One of the main promises of Jean-Pierre Raffarin as he became Prime Minister was to spur growth and that "the end of President Chirac's term would be marked by a drop of the unemployment"; however, at the time of his dismissal, no such improved could be seen. Villepin has set himself a deadline a hundred days from now to restore the French people's trust in their government (note that Villepin's first published book was titled The Hundred Days or the Spirit of Sacrifice).

Related Topics:
Unemployment - Jean-Pierre Raffarin - The Hundred Days

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Chirac became the subject of controversy the day before the International Olympic Committee was due to pick a host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Chirac made comments stating that "the only worse food than British food is Finnish" and "the only thing the British have done for Europe's agriculture is mad cow disease". Not only were Chirac's comments considered unsportsmanlike where the normal etiquette is not to criticize rival cities, there was also the presence of two Finnish members on the International Olympic Committee who would vote in the final ballot. Out of the competing candidate cities, the bid was widely acknowledged as the front runner but Paris's narrow loss to archrival London led many to believe that Chirac's comments were at fault. It seems that the French public lays the blame of the failure on president Chirac, and not on mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, whose popularity has in fact risen according to polls.

Related Topics:
International Olympic Committee - 2012 Summer Olympics - Candidate cities - Bid - London - Bertrand Delanoë

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On July 14, 2005, Interior Minister and head of UMP Nicolas Sarkozy held a garden party at the same time that the president held his traditional own. On this occasion, he made various remarks criticizing president Chirac, going as far as to compare him to King Louis XVI ("I'm not going to quietly mend locks at Versailles while a revolt is brewing in France") — a king who was out of touch with the grave issues facing his kingdom and who in the end finished beheaded. 

Related Topics:
2005 - Nicolas Sarkozy - Louis XVI

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He added "For 20 years, as a result of immobility, waffle, avoiding reality and ducking challenges, France is in revolt. I'm trying to listen". According to the Canard Enchaîné (July 20, 2005), Chirac remarked in private that he thought that Sarkozy was crazy, and that his crazyness had perhaps been worsened by his marital problems.

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Even longtime Chirac supporters have lost their faith. Jean-Louis Debré, president of the National Assembly and a faithful Chirac supporter, declared "I'm not sure that Jacques Chirac succeeded in his presidency. I'd at least like that he succeeds in his exit." (L'Express, 18/7)

Related Topics:
Jean-Louis Debré - National Assembly - L'Express

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According to a July 2005 poll , 32% judge Jacques Chirac favorably and 63% unfavorably.

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It is unclear whether Jacques Chirac will run for a third mandate in 2007, and whether, should he not run or should he fail in a reelection bid, he risks prosecution and jail time for the various fraudulous schemes he has been named in. While he is currently immune from prosecution as a president, prescription (i.e. the statute of limitations) does not run.

Related Topics:
2007 - Prescription - Statute of limitations

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One issue seen of increasing importance with respect to a possible 2007 re-election bid is Jacques Chirac's age and health. Chirac has often been described to be extremely resilient and hard-working, and to have conserved a legendary appetite; before 2005, he had never had major health problems throughout his long political career. He used to be a heavy smoker but had given up many years ago. Nevertheless, it has become apparent that he is also careful of hiding signs that may betray declining health. As an example, in 2003, then minister of environment Roselyne Bachelot revealed that Chirac was testing some hearing aid, and was reprimanded for this revelation. On September 3, 2005 prime minister Dominique de Villepin announced that Jacques Chirac had been hospitalized the day before in Val-de-Grâce military hospital in Paris for a "small vascular incident" affecting his eyesight. He was released on September 9, 2005 under advice not to fly for six weeks, ruling him out of the United Nations General Assembly. Villepin was appointed to serve in Chirac's place in the United Nation's 2005 World Summit in New York.

Related Topics:
2003 - Roselyne Bachelot - Hearing aid - September 3 - 2005 - Dominique de Villepin - Val-de-Grâce - September 9 - United Nations General Assembly - 2005 World Summit - New York

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