Who was Jacques Chirac?
Jacques Chirac trained at Sciences Po and the elite school ENA, served in Algeria, and then worked for Georges Pompidou. He won a seat for Corrèze in 1967 and held several ministries. In 1974 Giscard d'Estaing made him prime minister. He quit in 1976 and founded the RPR party. He ran Paris as mayor from 1977 to 1995 and served again as prime minister in 1986-1988, sharing power with a Socialist president. He won the presidency in 1995 on his third try. In 2002 he was re-elected with about 82 percent against Jean-Marie Le Pen. He left office in 2007.
Political views
- Led the government that sold off many state firms and ended the wealth tax between 1986 and 1988.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Won the 1995 race for the Elysée by promising to heal a split between the better-off and the left-behind.Source: theguardian.com
- In July 1995 accepted that France itself, not only the Nazis, was answerable for the Vel d'Hiv roundup of Jews in 1942.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Restarted nuclear tests at Mururoa in 1995, then declared in 1996 that France had stopped testing for good.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Brought compulsory military service to an end.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Stood against the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and warned that France could use its Security Council veto.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Backed the draft EU constitution, which French voters turned down with 55 percent in 2005.Source: theguardian.com
- Would not make deals with the far-right Front National.Source: theguardian.com
Legacy
Fans remember Chirac for opposing the Iraq war, for admitting what the Vichy state did, for refusing to work with the far right and for his easy warmth with ordinary people. A Paris museum of non-European art, the Quai Branly, is a lasting mark of his time. Critics call him an opportunist whose positions bent with events, and say few major reforms came from his presidency. His 1997 snap election backfired and put the Socialists in government for five years. Strikes in 1995 and defeat in the 2005 referendum weakened him too. A court later ruled in 2011 that he had misused public money by paying people for fake jobs while mayor. He received a suspended two-year term.