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Dominant force in French politics for more than 40 years who served as mayor of Paris, prime minister and president
A dominant figure in French politics for four decades, Jacques Chirac, who has died aged 86, became president of France in 1995 at his third attempt. He was the fifth occupant of the post under the Fifth Republic. Previously he had been mayor of Paris and twice prime minister, yet, when he finally achieved the presidency, he proved to have little vision or particular determination, given the opportunities the voters had at last bestowed on him. He had campaigned on the fracture sociale (social divide) but did little if anything to bridge it. There were some positives, including his conspicuous opposition to the Iraq war, improvements to road safety and reform of military service, but at the end of his 12 years at the Elysée Palace (during his time there the presidential term was cut from seven years to five) it was hard to point to major reforms to a society that badly needed them.
He appeared to have neither the will nor the imagination to confront France’s problems, including those posed by powerful and immovable vested interests and by the public finances. His career ended under a cloud when, his presidential immunity lifted, a court convicted him of corruption during his years as mayor of Paris – when, among other things, his staff used public money to employ members of his own political party in bogus jobs. By then frail and suffering from memory problems, he was not in court to hear the two-year suspended sentence imposed on him in 2011. Continue reading...