Editing Jacques Chirac (section)

=== First term: 1995–2002 ===
{{more citations needed|section|date=September 2019}}

==== Juppé ministry ====
[[File:Clintonchirac.jpg|thumb|Chirac with US president [[Bill Clinton]] outside the [[Élysée Palace]], 1999]]

During the [[1995 French presidential election|1995 presidential campaign]], Chirac criticised the "sole thought" ({{lang|fr|[[pensée unique]]}}{{--)}} of [[neoliberalism]] represented by his challenger on the right and promised to reduce the "social fracture", placing himself more to the centre and thus forcing Balladur to [[Political radicalism|radicalise]] himself. Ultimately, he obtained more votes than Balladur in the first round (20.8 per cent), and then defeated the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist]] candidate [[Lionel Jospin]] in the second round (52.6 per cent).

Chirac was elected on a platform of tax cuts and job programmes, but his policies did little to ease the labour strikes during his first months in office. On the domestic front, neo-liberal economic austerity measures introduced by Chirac and his conservative prime minister [[Alain Juppé]], including budgetary cutbacks, proved highly unpopular. At about the same time, it became apparent that Juppé and others had obtained preferential conditions for public housing, as well as other perks. At the year's end, Chirac faced [[1995 strikes in France|major workers' strikes]] which turned, in November–December 1995, into a [[general strike]], one of the largest since May 1968. The demonstrations were largely pitted against Juppé's plan for pension reform, and ultimately led to his dismissal.

Shortly after taking office, Chirac{{spaced ndash}}undaunted by international protests by environmental groups{{spaced ndash}}insisted upon the resumption of [[France and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll]] in [[French Polynesia]] in 1995, a few months before signing the [[Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.acronym.org.uk/a09comp.htm |title=Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty |publisher=Acronym.org.uk |access-date=20 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725044325/http://www.acronym.org.uk/a09comp.htm |archive-date=25 July 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Reacting to criticism, Chirac said, "You only have to look back at 1935...There were people then who were against France arming itself, and look what happened." On 1 February 1996, Chirac announced that France had ended "once and for all" its nuclear testing and intended to accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Elected as President of the Republic, he refused to discuss the existence of French military bases in Africa, despite requests by the [[Ministry of the Armies (France)|Ministry of Defence]] and the [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]].<ref name="Smith" /> The French Army thus remained in Côte d'Ivoire as well as in [[Omar Bongo]]'s Gabon.
[[File:Vladimir Putin 2 July 2001-5.jpg|thumb|right|Chirac with Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]], 2001]]
[[File:Chirac and Schroeder on the Neva.jpg|thumb|Chirac with German federal chancellor [[Gerhard Schröder]], 2003]]

==== State responsibility for the roundup of Jews ====

Prior to 1995, the French government had maintained that the [[French Third Republic|French Republic]] had been dismantled when [[Philippe Pétain]] instituted a new French State during [[World War II]] and that the Republic had been re-established when the war was over. It was not for France, therefore, to apologise for the roundup of Jews for deportation that happened while the Republic had not existed and was carried out by a state, [[Vichy France]], which it did not recognise. President [[François Mitterrand]] had reiterated this position: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France is responsible," he said in September 1994.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/17/world/chirac-affirms-france-s-guilt-in-fate-of-jews.html|title=Chirac Affirms France's Guilt in Fate of Jews|first=Marlise|last=Simons|date=17 July 1995|work=The New York Times|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207075618/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/17/world/chirac-affirms-france-s-guilt-in-fate-of-jews.html|archive-date=7 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Chirac was the first president of France to take responsibility for the deportation of Jews during the Vichy regime. In a speech made on 16 July 1995 at the site of the [[Vel' d'Hiv Roundup]], where 13,000 Jews had been held for deportation to concentration camps in July 1942, Chirac said, "France, on that day, committed the irreparable". Those responsible for the roundup were "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under the authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis. ... the criminal folly of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188755|title=France opens WW2 Vichy regime files|date=28 December 2015|publisher=BBC|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109073634/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35188755|archive-date=9 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/discours_et_declarations/1995/juillet/allocution_de_m_jacques_chirac_president_de_la_republique_prononcee_lors_des_ceremonies_commemorant_la_grande_rafle_des_16_et_17_juillet_1942-paris.2503.html Allocution de M. Jacques CHIRAC Président de la République prononcée lors des cérémonies commémorant la grande rafle des 16 et 17 juillet 1942 (Paris)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413170546/http://elysee.fr/elysee/elysee.fr/francais/interventions/discours_et_declarations/1995/juillet/allocution_de_m_jacques_chirac_president_de_la_republique_prononcee_lors_des_ceremonies_commemorant_la_grande_rafle_des_16_et_17_juillet_1942-paris.2503.html |date=13 April 2009 }}, Président de la république</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jacqueschirac-asso.fr/fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Allocution-Vel-dhiv.pdf |title=Allocution de M. Jacques CHIRAC Président de la République prononcée lors des cérémonies commémorant la grande rafle des 16 et 17 juillet 1942 (Paris) |work=jacqueschirac-asso |date=16 July 1995 |access-date=17 July 2014 |language=fr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724134623/http://www.jacqueschirac-asso.fr/fr/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Allocution-Vel-dhiv.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==== "Cohabitation" with Jospin ====
In 1997, Chirac dissolved parliament for [[1997 French legislative election|early legislative elections]] in a gamble designed to bolster support for his conservative economic program. But instead, it created an uproar, and his power was weakened by the subsequent backlash. The Socialist Party (PS), [[Plural Left|joined by other parties on the left]], soundly defeated Chirac's conservative allies, forcing Chirac into a new period of [[cohabitation (government)|cohabitation]] with Jospin as prime minister (1997–2002), which lasted five years.

Cohabitation significantly weakened the power of Chirac's presidency. The French president, by a [[constitutional convention (political custom)|constitutional convention]], only controls foreign and military policy— and even then, allocation of funding is under the control of Parliament and under the significant influence of the prime minister. Short of dissolving parliament and calling for new elections, the president was left with little power to influence public policy regarding crime, the economy, and public services. Chirac seized the occasion to periodically criticise Jospin's government.

His position was weakened by [[Corruption scandals in the Paris region|scandals about the financing of RPR by Paris municipality]]. In 2001, the left, represented by [[Bertrand Delanoë]] (PS), won a majority on the city council of the capital. [[Jean Tiberi]], Chirac's successor at the Paris city hall, was forced to resign after having been put under investigation in June 1999 on charges of {{lang|fr|[[influence peddling|trafic d'influences]]}} in the [[HLM]]s of Paris affairs (related to the illegal financing of the RPR). Tiberi was finally expelled from the [[Rally for the Republic]], Chirac's party, on 12 October 2000, declaring to the magazine {{lang|fr|[[Le Figaro]]}} on 18 November 2000: "Jacques Chirac is not my friend anymore".<ref>"Rien ne va plus entre Chirac et Tiberi", ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 18 November 2000 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

After the publication of the Jean-Claude Méry by {{lang|fr|[[Le Monde]]}} on 22 September 2000, in which Jean-Claude Méry, in charge of the RPR's financing, directly accused Chirac of organising the network, and of having been physically present on 5 October 1986, when Méry gave in cash 5 million [[Franc]]s, which came from companies who had benefited from state deals, to [[Michel Roussin]], personal secretary ({{lang|fr|directeur de cabinet}}{{--)}} of Chirac,<ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=101715 "Un témoignage pour l'histoire"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013195052/http://www.lemonde.fr/cgi-bin/ACHATS/acheter.cgi?offre=ARCHIVES&type_item=ART_ARCH_30J&objet_id=101715 |date=13 October 2007 }}, ''Le Monde'', 22 September 2000 {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>[http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-101887,0.html La suite du testament de Jean-Claude Méry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013195156/http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_breve/1,13-0,37-101887,0.html |date=13 October 2007 }}, ''Le Monde'', 23 September 2000 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Chirac refused to attend court in response to his summons by judge [[Eric Halphen]], and the highest echelons of the French justice system declared that he could not be inculpated while in office.

During his two terms, he increased the Elysee Palace's total budget by 105 per cent (to €90&nbsp;million, whereas 20 years before it was the equivalent of €43.7&nbsp;million). He doubled the number of presidential cars – to 61 cars and seven scooters in the Palace's garage. He hired 145 extra employees – the total number of people he employed simultaneously was 963.

==== Defence policy ====
As the Supreme Commander of the French armed forces, he reduced the military budget, as did his predecessor. At the end of his first term, it accounted for three per cent of GDP.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html CIA – The World Factbook – Rank Order – Military expenditures – percent of GDP] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613005240/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html |date=13 June 2007 }}. Cia.gov. Retrieved 17 December 2011.</ref> In 1997 the aircraft carrier [[French aircraft carrier Clemenceau|''Clemenceau'']] was decommissioned after 37 years of service, with her sister ship [[French aircraft carrier Foch|''Foch'']] decommissioned in 2000 after 37 years of service, leaving the French Navy with no aircraft carrier until 2001, when [[French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle|''Charles de Gaulle'']] was commissioned.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.netmarine.net/bat/porteavi/cdg/index.htm |title=Porte-avions Charles de Gaulle |publisher=Netmarine.net |access-date=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406023134/http://www.netmarine.net/bat/porteavi/cdg/index.htm |archive-date=6 April 2010  }}</ref> He also reduced expenditure on nuclear weapons{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} and the French nuclear arsenal was reduced to include 350 warheads, compared to the Russian nuclear arsenal of 16,000 warheads.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}} He also published a plan to reduce the number of fighters the French military had by 30.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/contents_in_english/french_air_force/the_future/the_future |title=Archived copy |website=defense.gouv.fr |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922034047/http://www.defense.gouv.fr/air/contents_in_english/french_air_force/the_future/the_future |archive-date=22 September 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

After François Mitterrand left office in 1995, Chirac began a rapprochement with NATO by joining the [[NATO Military Committee|Military Committee]] and attempting to negotiate a return to the [[NATO Military Command Structure|integrated military command]], which failed after the French demand for parity with the United States went unmet. The possibility of a further attempt foundered after Chirac was forced into cohabitation with a Socialist-led cabinet between 1997 and 2002, then poor Franco-American relations after the French UN veto threat over Iraq in 2003 made transatlantic negotiations impossible.

==== Close call ====
On 25 July 2000, as Chirac and the first lady were returning from the [[26th G8 summit|G7 Summit]] in Okinawa, Japan, they were placed in a dangerous situation by [[Air France Flight 4590]] after they landed at Charles de Gaulle International Airport. The first couple were in an Air France [[Boeing 747]] taxiing toward the terminal when the jet had to stop and wait for Flight 4590 to take off.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rose|first=David|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/13/davidrose.focus |title=Concorde: the unanswered questions |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=21 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201213044/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/13/davidrose.focus |archive-date=1 December 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> The departing plane, an [[Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde]], ran over a strip of metal on takeoff puncturing its left fuel tank and sliced electrical wires near the left landing gear. The sequence of events ignited a large fire and caused the Concorde to veer left on its takeoff roll. As it reached takeoff speed and lifted off the ground, it came within 30 feet of hitting Chirac's 747. Photographs of Flight 4590 ablaze were taken by passenger Toshihiko Sato on Chirac's jetliner.