Jacques Chirac, president of the French Republic for two terms and historical leader of the RPR (the center-right republican party), as well as a protagonist of the transalpine political scene for over 86 years, during which he was also prime minister under the presidency of Giscard D'Estaing and mayor of Paris for almost 40 years, from 20 to 1977, when he was first elected to the Elysée. Chirac fulfilled his career dream on May 7, 1995, becoming the 62nd president of the Republic at the age of 22, after failing in 1981, when he challenged François Mitterrand (later winner also in 1988) however finishing in third place in the first round, with only 17,9% of the votes.
by Mitterrand however, he became prime minister, from 1986 to 1988, during the famous "cohabitation" government. Chirac fared much better precisely in 95, when he beat the socialist Lionel Jospin in the runoff with 52,6% of the votes. Jospin will in turn become prime minister during a presidency of the opposite sign, when in 1997 Chirac dissolved the Chambers giving life to a new "cohabitation". The young Nicolas Sarkozy also enters that government, who will succeed Chirac in 2007, however opening – amidst political failures and judicial scandals – the waning phase of the republican movement.
Chirac ran for president again in 2002 and was re-elected (that was the first term no longer lasting seven years but five years, therefore the leader of the RPR sat in the Elysée for 12 years and not 14 like his predecessor Mitterrand), but this time the ballot did not arrive against Jospin but against the leader of the Front National Jean-Marie Le Pen, whose daughter Marine has taken the baton in recent years. For this reason, i.e. to avoid an extremist drift, his election this time was actually a plebiscite: Chirac triumphed with more than 82% and ushered in a second and final term that had three clear priorities.
To remind them is Le Monde in an editorial that admits that road safety, the fight against cancer and the protection of disabilities they were objectively three successes of the Chirac era. The tightening of the traffic rules led to a 43% drop in victims during his presidential mandate, while in the fight against cancer Chirac invested several billion euros in prevention and hospital facilities, also signing the law in 2006 which banned smoking in the premises public. Instead, the great law on accessibility dates back to 2005, considered a turning point in the modernization of the country.
President discreetly loved by the French, he is also remembered for his celebration on the occasion of the triumph of the French national football team, in the World Cup organized on home soil and won for the first time in 1998. An image that marked an era, comparable tomundial shout of our Sandro Pertini in Spain '82. However, Chirac he too did not fail to be overwhelmed by judicial scandals, which undermined his image at the end of his experience at the Elysée: on 15 December 2011 the Paris court imposed a two-year prison sentence on him, with the benefit of probation, for having committed the crimes of misappropriation of funds public affairs, abuse of power, private interest in official acts and the crime of interference. Already exhausted by health problems, Chirac decided not even to appeal.
“Despite the many differences – he recalls Marine Le Pen paying homage to Chirac on Twitter – he deserves credit for being the president who stood up to the madness of the war in Iraq”. “He loved France more than others did subsequently”, even the historic enemy acknowledges Jean Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Insoumise party.
