It did not come as a surprise: On Sunday evening, French President Jacques Chirac made an announcement—carried on all French TV channels—that he would not be a presidential candidate for a third time.
During a nearly 15-minute talk, he insisted on the "French exception" and his "deep love for the country." Notably enough, President Chirac refused to express any support to right-wing presidential candidate and Minister of Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, and moreover expressed opinions markedly different from those of Mr. Sarkozy.
Jacques Chirac' re-election in 1995 was unexpected: a few months before, he was the "third choice," far down in the polls, below socialist Lionel Jospin and Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. But Chirac, viewed by many as a political warrior, made it through extremely talented communication and by using a political slogan intended to reconcile conservative and socio-democrat voters: the idea of the French "social structure."
Strangely, Chirac kept power for 12 years despite having become fairly unpopular. This started in 1997, when he and his government tried to reform the costly French pension system. After nearly two months of massive protests that paralysed the French economy, Chirac decided to dissolve the Assemblée (lower chamber of the Parliament).
That was a bad idea: the left-wing Parti Socialist took a large majority of the seats and therefore were able to impose a Prime Minister of their own camp, Lionel Jospin, for the 5 following years.
When it came to the 2002 presidential elections, everyone was expecting a Chirac vs. Jospin fight for Presidency. However, Jospin was surprisingly eliminated at the first round of voting by extreme-right Jean-Marie Le Pen. This led to a Chirac reelection: 82% voted for him against the Front National leader, who was considered to be leading a xenophobic and fascist movement.
Chirac's vehement opposition to the war in Iraq as well as his strong support of the Chinese regime are likely to be remembered for a long time. A big part of the European effort to push for more human rights in China has been paralysed by Chirac's inefficient "constructive dialogue" scheme. He is also considered to bear a significant responsibility in the rejection of the European constitution by French voters and in the slowing of French economic growth.
Sadly, if French people are to think of Chirac's first and last year of presidency, they are likely to remember only two things: destructive nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean during the first year, and incessant fights against Minister of Interior Nicolas Sarkozy during the last one.
Little Support to Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy, head of UMP, the major right-wing party founded by Jacques Chirac, should naturally obtain the support of the President in his effort to become the new French President. But it is highly anticipated that Chirac will only show minimum support to Sarkozy, as the conflicts between the men have been intense in the past few years. For instance, Sarkozy's program emphasizes security, national preference and strict control of immigration. He is therefore often accused by his opponents of triggering conflicts between people rather than building tolerance and respect. It is therefore visibly not coincidental that Chirac emphasized tolerance, respect and the need for humanism during his Sunday talk.
From Talk to Action
Among other topics, Jacques Chirac mentioned during his intervention the crucial need to protect the environment and help emerging countries in their development, and by doing that to help build a world of peace.
Most of the candidates for the presidential election have welcomed the spirit of the declaration of Jacques Chirac, but all have, like centrist candidate François Bayrou, reminded that talks could easily be made lofty and inspiring, but that they should be judged based on concrete actions; actions that Jacques Chirac did not, or at least far from enough, take during his 12 years as head of state.
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