Chirac blamed for the failings of France
by Colin Randall in Paris
(Filed: 18/03/2006)
Jacques Chirac: 'In mourning for himself'
As the sun begins to set on the era of Jacques Chirac, students rampage in the Latin Quarter, the unions are restless and opinion polls reveal a nation that has lost all faith in its leaders. France, in other words, is much as Mr Chirac found it when he entered the Elysée in 1995.
And little more than a year before his expected departure from high office after four decades in politics, Mr Chirac has just been handed another reason to fear history's judgment.
In a fast-selling new book, a once-trusted confidant portrays him as a key cause of France's decline over the past 20 years.
Franz-Olivier Giesbert, a former editor-in-chief of the conservative daily Le Figaro, has drawn on copious notes kept from his extraordinary access to the president and France's political establishment to describe the Chirac legacy as "a personal tragedy that has become, in the end, a national tragedy".
Giesbert depicts Mr Chirac as a man obsessed by ancient art, his own supposed powers of healing and a failure to impose any of the bold ideas for reform he once held dear.
The book, The Tragedy of the President: Scenes from a political life 1986-2006, has been called "an affectionate hatchet job" by one critic, writing in the political weekly, Le Point, which the author now edits.
Mr Chirac is presented as a floundering leader who, little by little, has abandoned all ideas of significant change in French society after damaging strikes erupted at the start of his presidency.
Eleven years on, Mr Chirac has remained relatively silent as his embattled prime minister Dominique de Villepin has forced through a relatively modest youth employment law, giving bosses the right to sack workers without reason during a two-year "first job contract".
Up to one million students and workers are expected to take to the streets today in the biggest protest aimed at forcing the government to withdraw the measure.
Giesbert reserves his most scathing assessment of the president for a review of the events of last May when France voted emphatically to reject his appeal for a Yes in the referendum on a new European Union constitution.
"May 29, 2005 was the day of Chirac's political death," he writes. "And this time it was for good, without hope of resurrection. With the failure of his referendum, he still had two years to go and they were to be his cross to bear. His body would continue to move from habit, but his heart would no longer be in it."
Giesbert says that from one day to the next, Mr Chirac - then 72 -was turned into a ghost, the "undertaker of France's decline".
"He had aged 10 years in one go. Half asleep with a voice seeming to come from the grave, he wore a tie that was virtually black and he was in mourning for himself."
Giesbert says the young Chirac was a man of competence, a willingness to make decisions and real charisma. But "having led his life to the sound of trumpets, he has been transformed into the incarnation of French decline and the powerlessness of authority."
Among numerous anecdotes offering intimate insights into Mr Chirac's personality and style, Giesbert describes his passion for art and antiquities and the pride he takes when he is treated as an expert.
The president's office at the Elysée Palace, the author says, has come to resemble a curiosity shop full of the objects he has collected, from a 19th century Mumuye wooden statue from Niger to 3,000-year-old Mexican battleaxes.
The views of three French prime ministers, all staunch allies, quoted by the author speak volumes.
Alain Juppé said: "Chirac thinks of the world always in terms of civilisations. That explains his position in favour of Turkey's entry into the EU."
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, replaced as premier by Mr de Villepin after the referendum debacle, said: "Giscard d'Estaing thought in decades. For Chirac, it's centuries and, I often wonder, millennia."
And the currently beleaguered Mr de Villepin added: "He's not completely of our times but a man of the Orient or Asia who constantly finds himself above the world of today."
The president himself told Giesbert: "I am not a fanatic of Buddhism, Taoism, Islam or anything else. But I cannot bear the rejection of other cultures by the West. It makes the mustard rise in my nostrils when I hear arrogant, ignorant people, whether European or American, cover primitive art in their contempt.''
Giesbert also discloses that the president has to live with the knowledge that his wife, Bernadette, supports his former protege-turned-bitter-adversary Nicolas Sarkozy as presidential successor.
The author says that after a fall-out between the two men after Mr Chirac's famous slight aimed at Mr Sarkozy - "I decide, he executes'' - she went out of her way to assure the minister: "My husband will not stand [in 2007] and I will support you.''
colin.randall@telegraph.co
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Famous Chirac quotes -
Jacques Chirac quotes -
On taking office in 1995: 'I will serve only once. I have always believed I will die at 70. Stay too long in power and you end up being kicked out with a foot up the backside.'
On surviving, as a 'big eater, big drinker and full of beans' to 73: 'I am an insult to the medical profession.'
On international diplomacy: 'I have one simple principle in foreign affairs. I look at what the Americans are doing and then do the opposite. That way I can be sure I'm right.'
On losing to François Mitterrand in the 1988 presidential election: 'I've messed up everything. Professionally, my failure is obvious. As for my private life, it's a wreck.'
On explaining his 'healing powers' after a brief meeting with a minister's sick wife: 'I inherited from my father a gift that enables me to tell if people are in good health just by holding hands. Your wife is fine.'
telegraph.co.uk
by Colin Randall in Paris
(Filed: 18/03/2006)
Jacques Chirac: 'In mourning for himself'
As the sun begins to set on the era of Jacques Chirac, students rampage in the Latin Quarter, the unions are restless and opinion polls reveal a nation that has lost all faith in its leaders. France, in other words, is much as Mr Chirac found it when he entered the Elysée in 1995.
And little more than a year before his expected departure from high office after four decades in politics, Mr Chirac has just been handed another reason to fear history's judgment.
In a fast-selling new book, a once-trusted confidant portrays him as a key cause of France's decline over the past 20 years.
Franz-Olivier Giesbert, a former editor-in-chief of the conservative daily Le Figaro, has drawn on copious notes kept from his extraordinary access to the president and France's political establishment to describe the Chirac legacy as "a personal tragedy that has become, in the end, a national tragedy".
Giesbert depicts Mr Chirac as a man obsessed by ancient art, his own supposed powers of healing and a failure to impose any of the bold ideas for reform he once held dear.
The book, The Tragedy of the President: Scenes from a political life 1986-2006, has been called "an affectionate hatchet job" by one critic, writing in the political weekly, Le Point, which the author now edits.
Mr Chirac is presented as a floundering leader who, little by little, has abandoned all ideas of significant change in French society after damaging strikes erupted at the start of his presidency.
Eleven years on, Mr Chirac has remained relatively silent as his embattled prime minister Dominique de Villepin has forced through a relatively modest youth employment law, giving bosses the right to sack workers without reason during a two-year "first job contract".
Up to one million students and workers are expected to take to the streets today in the biggest protest aimed at forcing the government to withdraw the measure.
Giesbert reserves his most scathing assessment of the president for a review of the events of last May when France voted emphatically to reject his appeal for a Yes in the referendum on a new European Union constitution.
"May 29, 2005 was the day of Chirac's political death," he writes. "And this time it was for good, without hope of resurrection. With the failure of his referendum, he still had two years to go and they were to be his cross to bear. His body would continue to move from habit, but his heart would no longer be in it."
Giesbert says that from one day to the next, Mr Chirac - then 72 -was turned into a ghost, the "undertaker of France's decline".
"He had aged 10 years in one go. Half asleep with a voice seeming to come from the grave, he wore a tie that was virtually black and he was in mourning for himself."
Giesbert says the young Chirac was a man of competence, a willingness to make decisions and real charisma. But "having led his life to the sound of trumpets, he has been transformed into the incarnation of French decline and the powerlessness of authority."
Among numerous anecdotes offering intimate insights into Mr Chirac's personality and style, Giesbert describes his passion for art and antiquities and the pride he takes when he is treated as an expert.
The president's office at the Elysée Palace, the author says, has come to resemble a curiosity shop full of the objects he has collected, from a 19th century Mumuye wooden statue from Niger to 3,000-year-old Mexican battleaxes.
The views of three French prime ministers, all staunch allies, quoted by the author speak volumes.
Alain Juppé said: "Chirac thinks of the world always in terms of civilisations. That explains his position in favour of Turkey's entry into the EU."
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, replaced as premier by Mr de Villepin after the referendum debacle, said: "Giscard d'Estaing thought in decades. For Chirac, it's centuries and, I often wonder, millennia."
And the currently beleaguered Mr de Villepin added: "He's not completely of our times but a man of the Orient or Asia who constantly finds himself above the world of today."
The president himself told Giesbert: "I am not a fanatic of Buddhism, Taoism, Islam or anything else. But I cannot bear the rejection of other cultures by the West. It makes the mustard rise in my nostrils when I hear arrogant, ignorant people, whether European or American, cover primitive art in their contempt.''
Giesbert also discloses that the president has to live with the knowledge that his wife, Bernadette, supports his former protege-turned-bitter-adversary Nicolas Sarkozy as presidential successor.
The author says that after a fall-out between the two men after Mr Chirac's famous slight aimed at Mr Sarkozy - "I decide, he executes'' - she went out of her way to assure the minister: "My husband will not stand [in 2007] and I will support you.''
colin.randall@telegraph.co
------------------------------------
Famous Chirac quotes -
Jacques Chirac quotes -
On taking office in 1995: 'I will serve only once. I have always believed I will die at 70. Stay too long in power and you end up being kicked out with a foot up the backside.'
On surviving, as a 'big eater, big drinker and full of beans' to 73: 'I am an insult to the medical profession.'
On international diplomacy: 'I have one simple principle in foreign affairs. I look at what the Americans are doing and then do the opposite. That way I can be sure I'm right.'
On losing to François Mitterrand in the 1988 presidential election: 'I've messed up everything. Professionally, my failure is obvious. As for my private life, it's a wreck.'
On explaining his 'healing powers' after a brief meeting with a minister's sick wife: 'I inherited from my father a gift that enables me to tell if people are in good health just by holding hands. Your wife is fine.'
telegraph.co.uk
