JACQUES CHIRAC Biography - Polititians

 
 

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JACQUES CHIRAC

Name: Jacques René Chirac                                                               
Born: 2 November 1932 Paris, France                                                       
                                                                                         
Jacques René Chirac, (born on 29 November 1932) served as the President of               
France from 17 May 1995 until 16 May 2007. As President he also served as an ex           
officio Co-Prince of Andorra and Grand Master of the French Légion d'honneur.           
Chirac was the second-longest serving President of France (two full terms, first         
seven years and second five), behind François Mitterrand. He and his predecessor         
were also the only presidents to serve two full terms in the Élysée Palace.             
Chirac is the only person to have served twice as Prime Minister under the Fifth         
Republic.                                                                                 
                                                                                         
His internal policies included lower tax rates, the removal of price controls,           
strong punishment for crime and terrorism, and business privatization.                   
He has also argued for more socially responsible economic policies, and was               
elected in 1995 after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" (fracture   
sociale). His economic policies, based on dirigiste, state                               
directed ideals, stood in opposition to the laissez-faire policies of the United         
Kingdom, which Chirac famously described as "Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism".               
                                                                                         
After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the Institut d'Études               
Politiques de Paris and the École Nationale d'Administration, Chirac began his           
career as a high-level civil servant, and soon entered politics. He subsequently         
occupied various senior positions, including Minister of Agriculture, Prime               
Minister, Mayor of Paris, and finally President of France.