Longtime leader revered in France
Former president forged alliance with Germany
Former president Jacques Chirac, a political chameleon who dominated French politics for decades and strived to make France’s voice heard in Europe and beyond, died on Thursday at the age of 86.
Chirac was president from 1995 to 2007. He shaped his style in the mould of post-war leader Charles de Gaulle, seeking to strengthen France’s status as a player on the world stage.
The National Assembly interrupted a sitting to hold a minute’s silence.
Chirac passed away peacefully surrounded by his loved ones, his son-in-law Frédéric Salat-Baroux said.
Mayor of Paris for 18 years and prime minister for presidents on the political left and right before entering the Élysée Palace himself, Chirac had a knack for connecting with voters, particularly in rural France.
“Jacques Chirac knew how to form a personal bond with the French people,” said former socialist President François Hollande. “France was in his blood. He explored every corner, tasted every local delicacy.”
In death, he will be remembered for his defiant opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which turned Chirac’s relationship with Britain’s then-prime minister Tony Blair into an acrimonious low.
Blair said he was deeply saddened by Chirac’s passing. “He was a towering figure in French and European politics over many decades. Whatever our differences from time to time, he was always unfailingly kind, generous and personally supportive,” he said in a statement.
In Europe, Chirac became one of the bloc’s main standard bearers. He forged an alliance with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, which brought Europe’s two traditional powers closer together.
Chancellor Angela Merkel called Chirac a “great partner and friend to us Germans.” Jean-Claude Juncker, the outgoing leader of the European Union executive, said the continent had lost a man of strong convictions.
Five years after leaving office, Chirac was found guilty in December 2012 of abusing public funds as Paris mayor. But he served no jail time and the saga did little to tarnish his image.
Chirac was born in 1932 in Paris. He studied at the elite Sciences Po university and ENA civil service academy, and served as an army officer. By 1967, he had become a junior minister and was just 41 when he became prime minister in 1974.
He left the government and by 1977 was elected as Paris’s first mayor, a job he would keep for 18 years, until his election as president in 1995. He won a second term in 2002.
In the last years of his life, he suffered from neurological problems and was rarely seen in public.