Jacques Chirac
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"Chirac" redirects here. For other uses, see Chirac (disambiguation).
| Jacques Chirac | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office May 17, 1995 |
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| Preceded by | François Mitterrand |
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155th Prime Minister of France
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| In office 27 May 1974 – 26 August 1976 March 20, 1986–May 10, 1988 |
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| President | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing François Mitterrand |
| Preceded by | Pierre Messmer Laurent Fabius |
| Succeeded by | Raymond Barre Michel Rocard |
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| Born | November 29, 1932 (age 74) Paris, France |
| Political party | UMP (not officially a member) |
| Spouse | Bernadette Chodron de Courcel |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Jacques René Chirac (born November 29, 1932 in Paris) is a French politician and the current President of the French Republic. He was elected to this office in 1995 and re-elected in 2002. His current term expires in 2007. As President, he is an ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra and Grand Master of the French Légion d'honneur.
After completing studies at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the École Nationale d'Administration, Jacques Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, and soon entered politics. He has since occupied various senior positions, such as Minister of Agriculture, Prime Minister, Mayor of Paris, and finally President of France.
He has stood for lower tax rates, the removal of price controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism; and business privatization. He has also argued for more socially responsible economic policies, and was elected in 1995 after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" (fracture sociale). His economic policies have at various times included both laissez-faire and dirigite (state directed) ideas. On European Union issues, he has ranged from adopting eurosceptic stances on some issues to rather more pro-EU positions.
[edit] Early life and family
Born on 29 November 1932 in the Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire clinic (fifth district of Paris), Jacques René Chirac is the son of Abel François Chirac (1893-1968), a company administrator, and Marie-Louise Valette (1902-1973), a housewife. Both families were of peasant stock - even though his two grandfathers were teachers - from Sainte-Féréole in Corrèze. According to Chirac, his name "originates from the langue d'oc, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry". He is a Roman Catholic.
The young Chirac was an only child (his elder sister, Jacqueline, died in infancy before his birth), and was educated in Paris at the Lycée Carnot and at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. After his baccalaureat, he did a three month stint as a sailor.
In 1956, he married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, with whom he later had two daughters, Laurence (born March 4, 1958) and Claude (January 14, 1962). Claude has long been his public relations assistant and personal advisor,[1] while Laurence, who suffered from anorexia nervosa in her youth, does not participate in the political activities of her father.[2] Chirac is the grandfather of Martin Rey-Chirac by the relationship of Claude with French judoka Thierry Rey.
[edit] Early political career
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Inspired by General Charles de Gaulle to enter public life, Chirac continued pursuing a civil service career in the 1950s. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party; he sold copies of L'Humanité, and took part in meetings of a communist cell[3]. In 1950, he signed the Soviet-inspired Stockholm Appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons–enough for him to be questioned when he applied for his first visa to the United States[4]. In 1953, he attended Harvard University's summer school before entering the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), the elite, competitive-entrance college that trains France's top civil servants, in 1957.
After earning a graduate degree from the ENA in 1959, he became a civil servant and rose rapidly through the ranks. As soon as April 1962, Chirac was appointed head of the personal staff of Georges Pompidou, then prime minister under de Gaulle. This appointment launched Chirac's political career.
Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé and referred to him as "my bulldozer" for his skill at getting things done. The nickname "Le Bulldozer" caught on in French political circles. Chirac still maintains this reputation. "Chirac cuts through the crap and comes straight to the point...It's refreshing, although you have to put your seat belt on when you work with him", said an anonymous British diplomat in 1995.
At Pompidou's suggestion, Chirac ran as a Gaullist for a seat in the National Assembly in 1967. Chirac won the election and was given a post in the ministry of social affairs. (Gaullists have historically supported a strong central government and independence in foreign policy.) Although more of a "Pompidolian" than a "Gaullist", Chirac was well-situated in de Gaulle's entourage, being related by marriage to the general's sole companion at the time of the Appeal of 18 June 1940.
Chirac rose to become economy minister in the late 1960s, serving as department head and a secretary of state. As state secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (1968-1971), he had worked closely with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who headed the ministry. In 1968, when student and worker strikes rocked France (see May 1968), Chirac played a central role in negotiating a truce. The young technocrat from ENA then rose to fame; Chirac was caricatured as the archetypal brilliant ENA graduate in an Asterix graphic novel.
Chirac's first high-level post came in 1972 when he became minister of agriculture and rural development under his mentor Georges Pompidou, who was elected president in 1969. Chirac quickly earned a reputation as a champion of French farmers' interests. As minister of agriculture, Chirac first attracted international attention when he assailed U.S., West German, and European Commission agricultural policies that conflicted with French interests.
In 1974 Chirac was appointed Minister of the Interior. From March 1974 he was entrusted by President Pompidou with preparations for the presidential election then scheduled for 1976. However, these elections were brought forward because of Pompidou's sudden death on 2 April.
Chirac wanted a rally of the Gaullists behind Prime minister Pierre Messmer, yet this was to be all in vain. Jacques Chaban-Delmas announced his candidacy, in spite of the disapproval of the "Pompidolians". Chirac and others published the call of the 43 in favor of the minister of economy and finance Giscard d'Estaing, a non-Gaullist centrist. Giscard D'Estaing was elected as Pompidou's successor after France's most competitive election campaign in years. In return, the new president chose Chirac to lead the cabinet.
[edit] Prime Minister, 1974-76
When Giscard became president, he nominated Chirac as prime minister on 27 May 1974. At the age of just 41, Chirac stood out as the very model of the jeunes loups ("young wolves") of French political life.
However, the government could not afford to ignore the narrow margin by which Giscard d'Estaing had defeated the United Left candidate, François Mitterrand, in 1974. Giscard, not himself a member of the Gaullist Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), saw in the essentially pragmatic Chirac the qualities needed to reconcile the "Giscardian" and "non-Giscardian" factions of the parliamentary majority.
As prime minister, Chirac quickly set about persuading the Gaullists that, despite the social reforms proposed by President Giscard, the basic tenets of Gaullism, such as national and European independence, would be retained.
In December 1974, Saddam Hussein (then vice-president of Iraq, but largely de facto leader) invited Chirac to Baghdad for an official visit. Chirac accepted and visited Iraq in 1975. Saddam Hussein approved a deal granting French oil companies a number of privileges plus a 23 per cent share of Iraqi oil. As part of this deal, France also sold to Iraq a highly controversial Osirak MTR nuclear reactor, a type designed to produce plutonium which can be made into nuclear weapons. The Osirak reactor was later bombed by the Israeli Air Force, provoking considerable anger from French officials. The facility's intended use as a basis for nuclear weapons was confirmed after the 1991 Gulf War.
Chirac is advised by Pierre Juillet and Marie-France Garaud, two former advisers of Pompidou. These have organized the campaign against Chaban-Delmas in 1974. They advocated the clash with Giscard d'Estaing. Citing Giscard's unwillingness to give him authority, Chirac resigned as Prime Minister in 1976. He proceeded to build up his political base among France's several conservative parties, with a goal of reconstituting the Gaullist UDR into a neo-Gaullist group, the Rally for the Republic.
[edit] Chirac's Second Ministry, March 20, 1986 - May 12, 1988
- Jacques Chirac - Prime Minister
- Jean-Bernard Raimond - Minister of Foreign Affairs
- André Giraud - Minister of Defence
- Charles Pasqua - Minister of the Interior
- Édouard Balladur - Minister of Economy, Finance, and Privatization
- Alain Madelin - Minister of Industry, Tourism, Posts, and Telecommunications
- Philippe Séguin - Minister of Employment and Social Affairs
- Albin Chalandon - Minister of Justice
- René Monory - Minister of National Education
- François Léotard - Minister of Culture and Communications
- François Guillaume - Minister of Agriculture
- Bernard Pons - Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories
- Pierre Méhaignerie - Minister of Housing, Equipment, Regional Planning, and Transport
- André Rossinot - Minister of Relations with Parliament
- Michel Aurillac - Minister of Cooperation
[edit] Mayor of Paris
[edit] Actions as mayor
By an astute move, Chirac secured his election as secretary-general of the UDR in the face of potential opposition from the party "barons" and soon afterwards consolidated his hold over the majority by easily defeating an opposition motion of censure. Chirac also formed the conservative Rally for the Republic movement in 1976 to perpetuate the policies of Charles de Gaulle.
With the new party firmly under his control, Chirac was elected mayor of Paris in 1977, a position he held until 1995. As mayor of Paris, Chirac's political influence grew. Chirac supporters point out that, as mayor, he provided for programs to help the elderly, people with disabilities, and single mothers, while providing incentives for businesses to stay in Paris. His opponents contend that he installed clientelist policies, and favored office buildings at the expense of housing, driving rents high and worsening the situation of workers.
In addition, Chirac has been named in several cases of alleged corruption and abuse which occurred during his office term as mayor, some of which have already led to felony convictions against other politicians and aides. However, a controversial judicial decision from 1999 grants him virtual immunity, as current president of France. He has refused to testify on these matters, arguing that this would be incompatible with his presidential functions. See Corruption scandals in the Paris region.
[edit] The road to the presidency
In 1978, he attacked the pro-European policy of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. When he was hospitalized in Cochin hospital, he published the "Call of Cochin" in which he declared "as always about the drooping of France, the pro-foreign party acts with its peaceable and reassuring voice". Juillet and Garaud were the instigators of this text. Chirac separated with them after the bad result of the 1979 European election. Nevertheless, the already-established rivalry with Giscard d'Estaing became even more intense.
In 1981, Chirac made his first run for president. Chirac ran against the sitting president Giscard in the presidential election, thus splitting the centre-right vote; both Chirac and Giscard were defeated by Socialist François Mitterrand. Giscard has always blamed Chirac for his defeat in the 1981 elections. Giscard was told by Mitterrand, before his death, that he dined with Chirac before the election. Chirac told the Socialist candidate that he wanted "get rid of Giscard". After 1981, the relationship between the two men became somewhat tense, with Giscard, even though he was in the same government coalition as Chirac, taking opportunities to criticize Chirac's actions.
When a strong conservative coalition won a slight majority in the National Assembly in 1986, Mitterrand appointed Chirac prime minister. This power-sharing arrangement, known as cohabitation, gave Chirac the lead in domestic affairs. However, it is generally conceded that Mitterrand used the areas granted to the President of the Republic - defence and foreign affairs - to belittle his Prime Minister.
Chirac's cabinet sold a lot of public companies and abolished the wealth tax. Elsewhere, the project of university reform caused an important crisis when a young man called Malik Oussekine was killed by the police. Furthermore, he ordered a military intervention against the separatists of New Caledonia in the Ouvéa cave. But he refused any alliance with the National Front, the far-right party of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Chirac sought the presidency and ran against Mitterrand for a second time in 1988, but was defeated in the runoff elections. He resigned from the the cabinet but remained mayor of Paris and was still active in parliament.
Five years later, the Right won the 1993 legislative election but Chirac announced that he did not want to come back as prime minister, suggesting the appointment of Edouard Balladur, who had promised that he would not run for the presidency against Chirac. However, benefiting from positive polls, Balladur decided to be a presidential candidate.
During the 1995 presidential campaign Chirac criticized the "sole thought" represented by his right-wing challenger and promised to reduce the "social fracture". Ultimately, he obtained more votes than Balladur in the first round, and then defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in the second round.
[edit] Presidency
[edit] 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 fend 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.
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."
Chirac announced on February 1, 1996 that France had ended "once and for all" its nuclear testing, intending to accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Chirac was elected on a platform of tax cuts and job programs, but his policies did little to ease the labour strikes during his first months in office. On the domestic front, neo-liberal 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.
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.
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.
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.
[edit] Second term as president
At the age of 69, Chirac faced his fourth presidential campaign in 2002. He was the first choice of fewer than one in five voters in the first round of voting of the presidential elections in April 2002. It had been expected that he would face incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin in the second round of elections; instead, Chirac faced controversial far right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the law-and-order, anti-immigrant National Front, and so 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.
The left-wing Socialist Party being in thorough disarray following Jospin's defeat, Chirac reorganized 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.
On July 14, 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 toward the presidential motorcade, before being overpowered by bystanders [1].The gunman, Maxime Brunerie, underwent psychiatric testing; the violent far-right group with which he was associated, Unité Radicale was then administratively dissolved.
Along with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Chirac emerged as a leading voice against US president George W. Bush's administration's conduct towards Iraq. Despite intense U.S. pressure, Chirac threatened to veto, at that given point, a resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would authorize the use of military force to rid Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction, and rallied other governments to his position. "Iraq today does not represent an immediate threat that justifies an immediate war," Chirac said on March 18, 2003. Chirac was then the target of various American and British commentators supporting the decisions of president Bush and prime minister Tony Blair.
In 2005 after it was revealed that the 2012 Olympics would be held in Britian, Chirac was quoted as saying: "The only thing they've ever done for European agriculture is mad cow...We can't trust people who have such bad food. After Finland, it's the country with the worst food." [2]
On May 29, 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.
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.
According to a July 2005 poll, 32% judge Jacques Chirac favorably and 63% unfavorably.
It is unclear whether Jacques Chirac will run for a third mandate in 2007 and, should he not run or should he fail in a re-election bid, whether he risks prosecution and jail time for the various fraudulent schemes in which he has been named. While he is currently immune from prosecution as a president, prescription (i.e. the statute of limitations) does not apply. His authority was seriously weakened by the October-November 2005 Paris suburb riots in which hundreds of cars and numerous warehouses were set alight throughout France by thousands of alienated North African immigrants who complain of widespread discrimination and unemployment. The riots were triggered by the accidental deaths of 2 North African immigrants in a poor Paris suburb named Clichy-sous-Bois who were rumoured to be fleeing from police. [3] Chirac later acknowledged that France had not done enough to integrate its Muslim North African citizens into French society or combat racism. [4]
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.[citation needed]
On January 19, 2006, Chirac said that France was prepared to launch a nuclear strike against any country that sponsors a terrorist attack against French interests. He said his country's nuclear arsenal had been reconfigured to include the ability to make a tactical strike in retaliation for terrorism. [5]
On March 17, 2006, Chirac, was involved in a controversy over a youth employment law after protests in Paris against the measure ended in violence and 187 arrests. Unions and student groups were reported to be planning further action, claiming up to 600,000 university and high school students took part in Thursday's action. They have tied any talks to withdrawal of the employment law, which is opposed by 68% of French people, according to an opinion poll published in Le Parisien newspaper, a rise of 13 percentage points in a week.
During April and May 2006, President Chirac's administration has been beset by a crisis as his chosen Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, was accused of asking General Rondot, a top level French spy, for a secret investigation into the latter's chief political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2004. This matter has been called the Clearstream Affair. On May 10, 2006, following a Cabinet meeting, Chirac made a rare television appearance to try to protect Prime Minister Villepin from the scandal and to debunk allegations that Chirac himself had set up a Japanese bank account containing 300 million francs in 1992 as Mayor of Paris. [6] Chirac stated that "The Republic is not a dictatorship of rumors, a dictatorship of calumny." [7] Some political commentators note that the president's authority and credibility is in serious decline due to this scandal and combined impact of the French voters rejection of the European Union constitution in May 2005 which Chirac had publicly championed.
In July 2006, the G8 met to discuss international energy concerns. Despite the rising awareness of global warming issues, the G8 focuses on "energy security" issues. President Chirac continues to be the voice within the G8 summit meetings to support international action to curb global warming and climate change concerns. Chirac warns that "humanity is dancing on a volcano" and calls for serious action by the world's leading industrialised nations. [8]
[edit] Impact on French popular culture
Because of Jacques Chirac's long career in visible government position, he has often been parodied or caricatured:
- Young Jacques Chirac is the basis of a character in Astérix: that of a young, dashing bureaucrat just out of the bureaucracy school, proposing methods to quell Gallic unrest to elderly, old-style Roman politicians.
- He was featured in Le Bêbête Show as an overexcited, jumpy character.
- Jacques Chirac is one favorite character of Les Guignols de l'Info, a satiric latex puppet show. He was once portrayed as a rather likeable, though overexcited, character; however, following the corruption allegations, he has been shown as a kind of dilettante and incompetent who pilfers public money and lies through his teeth. His character for a while developed a super hero alter ego, Super Menteur ("Super Liar") in order to get him out of embarrassing situations.
[edit] Political offices held by Jacques Chirac
- Member of the Sainte-Féréole (Corrèze) municipal council 1965-1977
- National Assembly Deputy for Corrèze (March to May 1967)
- State Secretary for Social Affairs 1967-1968
- Deputy for Corrèze (June to August 1968)
- Member of the Corrèze Conseil Général for the canton of Meymac 1968-1982
- State Secretary for the Economy and Finance 1968-1971
- President of the Corrèze Conseil Général 1970-1979
- Minister attached to the Prime Minister, with responsibility for relations with Parliament 1971-1972
- Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development 1972–1973
- Deputy for Corrèze 1973-1974
- Minister of the Interior 1974
- Prime Minister 1974-1976
- General Secretary of the Union of Democrats for the Republic 1974-1975
- Deputy for Corrèze 1976-1986
- President of Rally for the Republic 1976-1994
- Mayor of Paris 1977-1995
- Member of the European Parliament 1979-1980
- Prime Minister 1986-1988
- Deputy for Corrèze 1988-1995
[edit] Trivia
- Chirac showed his more caring side when compared with the hard nosed image his critics project of him when he and his wife Bernadette informally adopted a boat people refugee, Anh Dao Traxel, whom they took into their home in 1979, after Chirac met her crying at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris when she was 21. When he met her he said; "Don't cry ma cherie. You are coming home with us."[citation needed]
[edit] Titles from birth to currently
- Monsieur le Président de la République française (1995–present)
- His Excellency The Sovereign Co-Prince of Andorra (1995–present)
| Presidents of the French Fifth Republic |  |
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| Charles de Gaulle • Georges Pompidou • Valéry Giscard d'Estaing • François Mitterrand • Jacques Chirac
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| Prime Ministers of the French Fifth Republic | |
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| Michel Debré • Georges Pompidou • Maurice Couve de Murville • Jacques Chaban-Delmas • Pierre Messmer • Jacques Chirac • Raymond Barre • Pierre Mauroy • Laurent Fabius • Jacques Chirac • Michel Rocard • Édith Cresson • Pierre Bérégovoy • Édouard Balladur • Alain Juppé • Lionel Jospin • Jean-Pierre Raffarin • Dominique de Villepin
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| G8 Leaders |
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Stephen Harper  | Jacques Chirac  | Angela Merkel  | Romano Prodi  | Shinzo Abe  | Vladimir Putin  | Tony Blair  | George W. Bush  |
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Le bruit et l'odeur
- List of national leaders
- Politics of France
- French presidential election, 1981
- French presidential election, 1988
- French presidential election, 1995
- French presidential election, 2002
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Emmanuel Hecht, Thierry Vey, Chirac de A à Z, dictionnaire critique et impertinent, Éditions Albin Michel, ISBN 2-226-07664-6
- Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Le pouvoir et la vie, tome 3
[edit] Sources
- (French) TF1
- (French) l'Express
- (French) Mairie de Paris
[edit] External links
- Biography at the Official Website of the Office of the French President
- (French) Biography and his election (2002)
- Jacques Chirac threatened to launch nuclear attack on Iran, Der Spiegel, January 19, 2006.
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