Editing Jacques Chirac (section)

=== Prime Minister under Giscard: 1974–1976 ===
[[File:1975 Ceausescu J. Chirac Neptun.jpg|thumb|right|Chirac with Romanian president [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] during a visit to [[Neptun, Romania|Neptun]], 1975]]
When [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] became president, he nominated Chirac as [[Prime Minister of France|prime minister]] on 27 May 1974, to reconcile the "Giscardian" and "non-Giscardian" factions of the parliamentary majority. At the age of 41, Chirac stood out as the very model of the {{lang|fr|jeunes loups}} ('young wolves') of French politics, but he was faced with the hostility of the "Barons of Gaullism" who considered him a traitor for his role during the previous presidential campaign. In December 1974, he took the lead of the [[Union of Democrats for the Republic]] (UDR) against the will of its more senior personalities.

As prime minister, Chirac quickly set about persuading the Gaullists that, despite the social reforms proposed by President Giscard, the basic tenets of Gaullism, such as national and European independence, would be retained. Chirac was advised by Pierre Juillet and [[Marie-France Garaud]], two former advisers of Pompidou. These two organised the campaign against Chaban-Delmas in 1974. They advocated a clash with Giscard d'Estaing because they thought his policy bewildered the conservative electorate.<ref name="palier1">{{cite web|last=Palier|first=Bruno|title=France more liberalised than social democratized?|url=http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/conferences/nordic/papers/France.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703034255/http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/conferences/nordic/papers/France.pdf|archive-date=3 July 2010|publisher=Chercheur CNRS au CEVIPOF}}</ref>

Citing Giscard's unwillingness to give him authority, Chirac resigned as prime minister in 1976.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meisler |first=Stanley |date=1986-03-21 |title=Chirac Named French Premier; Cabinet Picked |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-03-21-mn-5043-story.html |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref> He proceeded to build up his political base among France's several conservative parties, with a goal of reconstituting the Gaullist UDR into a [[Neo-Gaullist]] group, the Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's first tenure as prime minister was also an arguably progressive one, with improvements in both the minimum wage and the social welfare system carried out during the course of his premiership.<ref name="palier1"/>