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| French politicians pay tribute to former president Chirac | French politicians pay tribute to former president Chirac |
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| Politicians have paid tribute to the former French president Jacques Chirac who has died at the age of 86. | Politicians have paid tribute to the former French president Jacques Chirac who has died at the age of 86. |
| “President Jacques Chirac died this morning surrounded by his family, peacefully,” his son-in-law Frédéric Salat-Baroux announced on Thursday. The road near his Paris home was being protected by police in the early afternoon. | “President Jacques Chirac died this morning surrounded by his family, peacefully,” his son-in-law Frédéric Salat-Baroux announced on Thursday. The road near his Paris home was being protected by police in the early afternoon. |
| The French parliament observed a minute’s silence and Richard Ferrand, the head of the lower house, said he was larger than life and likened him to a literary character. “In Chirac, France has lost a hero from Alexandre Dumas: charmer, fighter and much deeper than he wanted to appear.” | |
| Ferrrand said: “The French people have lost an indefatigable republican, visionary, attentive to the great debates of his time ... Jacques Chirac is part of the history of France. A France in his image: spirited, complex, often full of contradictions, always driven by a tireless republican passion.” | Ferrrand said: “The French people have lost an indefatigable republican, visionary, attentive to the great debates of his time ... Jacques Chirac is part of the history of France. A France in his image: spirited, complex, often full of contradictions, always driven by a tireless republican passion.” |
| The French Green politician David Cormand said that what stood out about Chirac on the French right was that he “refused” any linking up with the far right, a critique of how later leaders on the centre-right increasingly courted voters for the far-right Le Pen. | |
| In 2002, Chirac was re-elected president with 82% of the vote after the Front National’s Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked the nation by getting into the final round run-off. Chirac won because much of the leftwing electorate voted for him in order to stop the far-right leader – the left later complained that Chirac did not adjust his politics to take into account that leftwing vote. Cormand called Chirac the “last Gaullist”. | In 2002, Chirac was re-elected president with 82% of the vote after the Front National’s Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked the nation by getting into the final round run-off. Chirac won because much of the leftwing electorate voted for him in order to stop the far-right leader – the left later complained that Chirac did not adjust his politics to take into account that leftwing vote. Cormand called Chirac the “last Gaullist”. |
| The former socialist president François Hollande hailed Chirac as a “fighter” who “knew how to create a real link with the French people”. | |
| Paris’s socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said the city was “grieving”. The European Commission president and former Luxembourg premier, Jean-Claude Juncker, was “moved and devastated” to learn of Chirac’s death, a spokeswoman said, adding that Europe was losing a “great statesman”. | |
| Twice elected head of state in 1995 and 2002, his 12 years in the Élysée Palace made him France’s second-longest-serving postwar president after his socialist predecessor François Mitterrand, with one of the longest political careers in Europe. | Twice elected head of state in 1995 and 2002, his 12 years in the Élysée Palace made him France’s second-longest-serving postwar president after his socialist predecessor François Mitterrand, with one of the longest political careers in Europe. |
| On the international stage, Chirac will be best remembered for angering the US with his public opposition to the 2003 war in Iraq. This stance, which saw France turn away from its US and UK allies, saw his anti-war stance win approval ratings of 90% at home. | On the international stage, Chirac will be best remembered for angering the US with his public opposition to the 2003 war in Iraq. This stance, which saw France turn away from its US and UK allies, saw his anti-war stance win approval ratings of 90% at home. |
| Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally (formerly the Front National) and daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, paid tribute to Chirac for his stance on Iraq, saying he was “capable of opposing madness and the war in Iraq”. | Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Rally (formerly the Front National) and daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, paid tribute to Chirac for his stance on Iraq, saying he was “capable of opposing madness and the war in Iraq”. |
| In France, while attacked by the left for failing to address France’s deep social divisions, unemployment and debt, he was hailed for reconciling the nation with its history by acknowledging that France as a whole was responsible for the roundup of some 76,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps during the second world war. | In France, while attacked by the left for failing to address France’s deep social divisions, unemployment and debt, he was hailed for reconciling the nation with its history by acknowledging that France as a whole was responsible for the roundup of some 76,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps during the second world war. |
| Called a “weathervane” for shifting his political ideas, he was seen as a master of the art of electoral campaigning and hand shaking. He was an instinctive conservative but with an appeal that extended beyond the right. Chirac also served two stints as prime minister in 1974-76 and 1986-88 and was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. | Called a “weathervane” for shifting his political ideas, he was seen as a master of the art of electoral campaigning and hand shaking. He was an instinctive conservative but with an appeal that extended beyond the right. Chirac also served two stints as prime minister in 1974-76 and 1986-88 and was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. |
| It was his time at the helm of the French capital that resulted, once he had lost his presidential immunity, in a conviction for embezzlement and misuse of public funds. When he left office, he became the first former French president convicted of a crime – receiving a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of embezzling public funds as Paris mayor in order to illegally finance the rightwing party he led. | It was his time at the helm of the French capital that resulted, once he had lost his presidential immunity, in a conviction for embezzlement and misuse of public funds. When he left office, he became the first former French president convicted of a crime – receiving a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of embezzling public funds as Paris mayor in order to illegally finance the rightwing party he led. |
| Chirac had rarely been seen in public in recent years and was long known to have been suffering from ill health. | Chirac had rarely been seen in public in recent years and was long known to have been suffering from ill health. |
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