February 13, 2003. Copyright, 2003, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Profile of French president Jacques Chirac
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, February 13, Graphic News:  No one can deny that Jacques Chirac is a political animal par excellence. Whether confronted by sleaze allegations that would have sent more timid beasts slinking back into the shadows, or as the target of U.S. fire over Iraq, the French president appears to feel good dans sa peau.

But that does not mean that Chirac, 70, has never had to lick his wounds, or made mistakes. In a career spanning more than 35 years he has been prime minister twice and was Paris mayor for more than 18 years. After being elected president in 1995, he forced elections in 1997 that resulted in an awkward power sharing deal with Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. His alleged involvement in a kickbacks scandal while at city hall might easily have cost him his second presidential term in polls in 2002.  

Today, however, Chirac is the most powerful French president ever, and he is not afraid to go it alone. In insisting on UN approval for a war on Iraq, he has invoked his spiritual mentor, Charles de Gaulle, who stood up to the United States during the 1960s. Perhaps this is why his electorate has forgiven him the scandals, the luxury holidays and flights on Concorde with his wife and two daughters. Chirac is Òun bon garsÓ Ð  a grand lad Ð with a hearty appetite, a love of the good life and an independent streak that is very French.

Chiarc has always done his own thing. He provoked international outrage by testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific in 1995 and then came over all green. Similarly, he used to rail against all things European and then championed the single currency. Such inconsistency has earned him the nickname, ÒChameleon BonaparteÓ. Less kindly he is depicted asÒSuperliarÓ on the weekly satirical puppet show, Les Guignols dÕInfo, complete with PinnochioÕs outsized nose.

If one thing is constant with Chirac, it is perhaps a lucky streak. He overcame scandal to win a huge vote in 2002 mainly because his opponent was right wing extremist Jean Marie Le Pen. And then there is his ability to believe whatever he chooses. As former president ValŽry Giscard dÕEstaing said: ÒChirac can have his mouth full of jam, his lips dripping with the stuff, his fingers covered with it, the pot can be standing in front of him and when you ask him if he is a jam eater, he will say ÒMe, eat jam. Never? Monsieur Le President?Ó
/ENDS