Jacques Chirac

1932 - 2019

Country of citizenship: France

Languages spoken, written or signed: French, English, Russian

Educated at: Sciences Po, Cours Hattemer, Lycée Louis-le-Grand, École nationale d'administration, Lycée Carnot, Harvard Summer School

Occupation: official, politician

Award received: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, Ig Nobel Prize, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic‎, Order of the White Eagle, Collar of the Order of the White Lion, Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg", Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav‎, Order of the Three Stars, 1st Class, Collar of the Order of Charles III, Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great, Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Officer of the National Order of Quebec, Grand Cross of Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania, Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry, Order of the Republic, Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit, Grand Master of the Legion of Honour, Heydar Aliyev Order, Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, doctor honoris causa of Keiō University, Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria, Knight of the Order of the Black Star, honorary doctor of the China Foreign Affairs University, honorary doctor of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, honorary citizen of Sarajevo, Honorary member of the Athens Academy, Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, Order of the Rajamitrabhorn

Position held: President of the French Republic, Prime Minister of France, member of the French National Assembly, president of the general council, French co-prince of Andorra, mayor of Paris, Minister of the Interior of France, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, party leader, Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament, Member of the European Parliament, Conseiller général de la Corrèze

Student of: Vladimir Belanovich

Bibliographic databases:

Jacques René Chirac (UK: , US: ; French: [ʒak ʁəne ʃiʁak] ; 29 November 1932 – 26 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. After attending the École nationale d'administration, Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, entering politics shortly thereafter. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including minister of agriculture and minister of the interior. In 1981 and 1988, he unsuccessfully ran for president as the standard-bearer for the conservative Gaullist party Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of price controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism, and business privatisation. After pursuing these policies in his second term as prime minister, Chirac changed his views. He argued for different economic policies and was elected president in 1995, with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, beating Socialist Lionel Jospin, after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" (fracture sociale). Chirac's economic policies, based on dirigisme, allowing for state-directed investment, stood in opposition to the laissez-faire policies of the United Kingdom under the ministries of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, which Chirac described as "Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism". Chirac was known for his stand against the American-led invasion of Iraq, his recognition of the collaborationist French government's role in deporting Jews, and his reduction of the presidential term from seven years to five through a referendum in 2000. At the 2002 presidential election, he won 82.2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and was the last president to be re-elected until 2022. In 2011, the Paris court declared Chirac guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, giving him a two-year suspended prison sentence. Source: Wikipedia (en)