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Jacques Chirac: Former French president dies at 86 | Jacques Chirac: Former French president dies at 86 |
(32 minutes later) | |
Jacques Chirac, the former French president who championed Europe, and whose later years were blighted by corruption scandals, has died aged 86. | |
"President Jacques Chirac died this morning surrounded by his family, peacefully," his son-in-law told the French news agency AFP. | "President Jacques Chirac died this morning surrounded by his family, peacefully," his son-in-law told the French news agency AFP. |
Chirac served two terms as president, one as prime minister, and took France into the single European currency. | |
The French National Assembly observed a minute's silence in his memory. | The French National Assembly observed a minute's silence in his memory. |
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission and former Luxembourg premier, said he was "moved and devastated" to learn the news. | Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission and former Luxembourg premier, said he was "moved and devastated" to learn the news. |
"Europe is not only losing a great statesman, but the president is losing a great friend," Mr Junker said in a statement. | "Europe is not only losing a great statesman, but the president is losing a great friend," Mr Junker said in a statement. |
Corruption conviction | Corruption conviction |
Chirac was born in 1932, the son of a bank manager. He served as head of state from 1995 to 2007 - making him France's second longest serving post-war president after his Socialist predecessor Francois Mitterrand. But his health steadily deteriorated after he stepped down until his death on Thursday. | |
Chirac also served as the French prime minister but was beset by a series of corruption scandals. In 2011, he was convicted of diverting public funds while serving as the mayor of Paris. | |
But he won widespread support for his opposition to French involvement in the Iraq War, and for being the first leader to recognise France's role in the war-time deportation of Jews. | |
Among his major domestic political reforms was a reduction of the presidential term of office from seven to five years, and the abolition of compulsory military service. | |
He moved during the course of his career from anti-European Gaullism to championing the European project and a European Union constitution that was then rejected by the majority of French voters. | |
In 2005, he suffered a stroke, and in 2014, his wife Bernadette said he would no longer speak in public, noting he had memory trouble. | |
Anyone who lived in France around the turn of the century will remember the special persona adopted by Jacques Chirac for his presidential broadcasts - a kind of avuncular clan elder. | |
With an air of almost pained sincerity, he would furrow his brow at the latest negative turn of events. Then in rich, reassuring tones came the unvarying intro: "Mes chers compatriotes…" (My dear compatriots). | |
He was a man rooted in the countryside who adopted with ease the social superiority of the Parisian. Exactly how many people fell for his Gallic charm we cannot know. | |
But plenty of French men and women regarded Chirac as a political charlatan, bereft of beliefs, who played the political game to perfection and numbed his nation through the start of a long decline. |