Councillor of Paris: 1977–1995 (Resignation). ", Gaffney, John. Levy, Jonah, Alistair Cole, and Patrick Le Galès. [1]. [79] He was originally portrayed as a rather likable, though overexcited, character; following the corruption allegations, however, he was depicted as a kind of dilettante and incompetent who pilfered public money and lied through his teeth. President of the General Council of Corrèze: 1970–1979. L'ancien premier ministre (1993-1995), gaulliste comme Jacques Chirac, avait été son rival malheureux à la présidentielle de 1995, après avoir été longtemps proche de lui au sein du RPR. Premier gouvernement dirigé par le Premier ministre Jean-Pierre Raffarin, il est en fonction du 6 mai 2002 au 17 juin 2002, sous la présidence de Jacques Chirac. Elsewhere, the plan for university reform (plan Devaquet) caused a crisis in 1986 when a student called Malik Oussekine was killed by the police, leading to massive demonstrations and the proposal's withdrawal. He refused to testify on these matters, arguing that it would be incompatible with his presidential functions. Par ordre protocolaire. [19], Chirac trained as a reserve military officer in armoured cavalry at Saumur. This appointment launched Chirac's political career. [66], Shortly after leaving office, he launched the Fondation Chirac[67] in June 2008. Lionel Jospin (PS) a été le deuxième Premier ministre de Jacques Chirac, de 1997 à 2002, après la dissolution de l'Assemblée nationale ratée par le Président. "Iraq today does not represent an immediate threat that justifies an immediate war", Chirac said on 18 March 2003. [93] He was convicted of diverting public funds, abuse of trust and illegal conflict of interest. On 19 January 2006, Chirac said that France was prepared to launch a nuclear strike against any country that sponsors a terrorist attack against French interests. 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. Dans une courte intervention pour accueillir les membres du bureau du Sénat à l’Élysée, en 1995, Jacques Chirac rappelait ainsi qu’il avait toujours entretenu des relations courtoises avec le Sénat. Chirac was advised by Pierre Juillet and Marie-France Garaud, two former advisers of Pompidou. "I call on all French to massively vote for republican ideals against the extreme right." [18], In 1953, after graduating from the Sciences Po, he attended a non-credit course at Harvard University's summer school, before entering the École nationale d'administration, which trains France's top civil servants, in 1957. He reluctantly supported Giscard in the second round. French voters turned down the proposed document by a wide margin, which was interpreted by some as a rebuke to Chirac and his government. Quinquennat de M. Jacques Chirac [2002-2007] Premier gouvernement de M. Jean-Pierre Raffarin , Premier Ministre [6 mai 2002 au 17 juin 2002] - M. Dominique de Villepin, Ministre des Affaires étrangères, de la Coopération et de la Francophonie • M. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Ministre délégué aux Affaires européennes [93][95], During April and May 2006, Chirac's administration was beset by a crisis as his chosen Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, was accused of asking Philippe Rondot, a top level French spy, for a secret investigation into Villepin's chief political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2004. During his two terms, he increased the Elysee Palace's total budget by 105 percent (to €90 million, whereas 20 years before it was the equivalent of €43.7 million). En effet, pour la première fois depuis 1974, il n'y a pas eu de débat télévisé entre les deux candidats avant le second tour des élections présidentielles de 2002. On March 17, 2006, Chirac, was involved in a controversy over a youth employment law after protests in Paris against the measure ended in violence and 187 arrests. In October 2003, there was an intense debate about French leaders' tradition of keeping secret their medical problems (for example Mitterrand's cancer was hidden for 14 years) : Jacques Chirac has gone slightly deaf in one ear, and a former Environment Minister Roselyne Bachelot had revealed that a small hearing aid had been fitted discreetly into Mr Chirac's left ear. One of the main promises of Jean-Pierre Raffarin when he became Prime Minister had been to spur growth and that "the end of President Chirac's term would be marked by a drop in unemployment". Ultimately, he obtained more votes than Balladur in the first round (20.8 percent), and then defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in the second round (52.6 percent). [54] The gunman, Maxime Brunerie, underwent psychiatric testing; the violent far-right group with which he was associated, Unité Radicale, was then administratively dissolved. [37], Chirac was the first President of France to take responsibility for the deportation of Jews during the Vichy regime. Reelected in 1970, 1976, 1982. Then, as state secretary of economy (1968–1971), he worked closely with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who headed the ministry of economy and finance. Il ne l’a jamais été, ce qui ne l’a pas empêché de bien connaître votre assemblée, comme ministre chargé des relations avec le Parlement, puis comme Premier ministre. [citation needed], Chirac suffered from frail health and memory loss in later life. Aujourd’hui, en France comme à l’international, de tous bords politiques et sur les réseaux sociaux, chacun se souvient de l’homme, de l’animal politique, de l’humaniste, du franchouillard, de l’érudit, du libéral, du Corrézien qui nous laisse un héritage immense. President of the Rally for the Republic: 1976–94 (Resignation). Millerand held the presidency in an acting capacity before being fully elected. Chirac has often been described to be extremely resilient and hard-working, and to have conserved a legendary appetite; before 2005, he had never had major health problems throughout his long political career. According to a July 2005 poll,[50] 32 percent judged Chirac favourably and 63 percent unfavorably. [citation needed]. [70], In Volume 2 of his memoirs published in June 2011, Chirac mocked his successor Nicolas Sarkozy as "irritable, rash, impetuous, disloyal, ungrateful, and un-French". It supports field projects that involve local people and provide concrete and innovative solutions. But instead, it created an uproar, and his power was weakened by the subsequent backlash. 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. Minister of Relation with Parliament: 1971–72. It seems that the French public laid the blame of the failure on President Chirac, and not on the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, whose popularity had in fact risen according to polls. Télécharger Allocution de Jacques Chirac lors de la cérémonie d'investiture du 16 mai 2002 - PDF 188 Ko Monsieur le Président du Conseil Constitutionnel, Monsieur le Premier Ministre, Et même tout débat en 2002, quand il se retrouve face à Jean-Marie Le Pen au second tour de l'élection présidentielle. He was elected deputy for his home Corrèze département, a stronghold of the left. to be the voice[citation needed] within the G8 summit meetings to support international action to curb global warming and climate change concerns. On the right, a new generation of politicians, the "renovation men", accused Chirac and Giscard of being responsible for the electoral defeats. [71][72] Chirac wrote that he considered firing Sarkozy previously, and conceded responsibility in allowing Jean-Marie Le Pen to advance in 2002. Au total, seize candidats sont en lice pour le premier tour le 21 avril 2002 :- Jacques Chirac, président sortant, candidat du Rassemblement pour la République. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party, sold copies of L'Humanité, and took part in meetings of a communist cell. Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé, and referred to him as "my bulldozer" for his skill at getting things done. [31], Chirac ran against Mitterrand for a second time in the 1988 election. Cette troisième cohabitation, qualifiée à plusieurs reprises de "constructive" par le président de la République débute néanmoins par une mise au point d'ordre institutionnel. It had been expected that he would face incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin on the second round of elections; instead, Chirac faced controversial far right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the law-and-order, anti-immigrant National Front, and won re-election by a landslide; most parties outside the National Front had called for opposing Le Pen, even if it meant voting for Chirac. Jacques Chirac est réélu le 5 mai 2002, avec 82,21% des voix face face au candidat Front National, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Chirac continued[when?] At the age of 41, Chirac stood out as the very model of the 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. [11], According to Chirac, his name "originates from the langue d'oc, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry". Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development: 1972–74. Vexed Marie-France Garaud stated: "We thought Chirac was made of the same marble of which statues are carved in, we perceive he's of the same faience bidets are made of. In 1954, Chirac presented The Development of the Port of New-Orleans, a short geography/economic thesis to the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), which he had entered three years before. L'ancien Premier ministre Dominique de Villepin se souvient de son ami Jacques Chirac. As mayor of Paris, Chirac's political influence grew. [citation needed], Chirac's cabinet sold many public companies, renewing the liberalisation initiated under Laurent Fabius's Socialist government of 1984–1986, and abolished the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), a symbolic tax on those with high value assets introduced by Mitterrand's government. [24], Citing Giscard's unwillingness to give him authority, Chirac resigned as Prime Minister in 1976. - May 6, 2002", "BBC NEWS - Europe - Chirac escapes lone gunman's bullet", "Excerpts of interview by President Chirac to TF1 and France2", "BBC NEWS - Middle East - US war signal divides world", "BBC NEWS - Europe - French riots spread beyond Paris", "Chirac: Nuclear Response to Terrorism Is Possible", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jacques_Chirac%27s_second_term_as_President_of_France&oldid=995496262, Articles with dead external links from January 2020, Articles with permanently dead external links, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from September 2019, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Articles needing more detailed references, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 10:10. His grandparents were teachers[10] from Sainte-Féréole in Corrèze. Prior to 1995, the French government had maintained that the 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. He held this post until 1995.[26]. Chirac became the subject of controversy the day before the International Olympic Committee was due to pick a host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. After Togo's leader Gnassingbé Eyadéma's death on 5 February 2005, Chirac gave him tribute and supported his son, Faure Gnassingbé, who has since succeeded his father. Following the public ceremony, Chirac was buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery with only his closest family in attendance. Vingt-cinq personnes ont exercé ou exercent la fonction de président de la République française depuis 1848. This debate leading to accusations of secrecy and speculation emerged once again in September 2005 when Chirac following a suspected stroke ( which provoked "slight impairment in his field of vision"). [13] He was educated in Paris at the Cours Hattemer, a private school. [78] His requiem mass was held at the Saint-Sulpice Church on 30 September 2019, celebrated by Michel Aupetit, Archbishop of Paris, and attended by representatives from about 175 countries, included 69 past and present heads of state, government and international organizations. En 2002, il est largement réélu face à Jean-Marie Le Pen. "Chirac and ‘la Francafrique’: No longer a family affair. Investigations concerning the running of Paris's city hall, the number of whose municipal employees increased by 25% from 1977 to 1995 (with 2,000 out of approximately 35,000 coming from the Corrèze region where Chirac had held his seat as deputy), as well as a lack of financial transparency (marchés publics) and the communal debt, were thwarted by the legal impossibility of questioning him as president. At Pompidou's suggestion, Chirac ran as a Gaullist for a seat in the National Assembly in 1967. En 2002, il revient au gouvernement. 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. [32], For the first time, his leadership over the RPR was challenged. The riots were triggered by the accidental deaths of two North African immigrants in a poor Paris suburb named Clichy-sous-Bois who were rumoured to be fleeing from police. Chirac emerged as a leading voice against US president George W. Bush's administration's conduct towards Iraq. Chirac announced that he did not want to come back as prime minister as his previous term had ended with his unsuccessful run for the presidency against Mitterand who was still President at this point. On May 10, 2006, following a Cabinet meeting, Chirac made a rare television appearance to try to protect Prime Minister Villepin from the scandal and to debunk allegations that Chirac himself had set up a Japanese bank account containing 300 million francs in 1992 as Mayor of Paris. [5] He played no. A New France.". par David Walsh à Paris 7 mai 2002. Chirac warned that "humanity is dancing on a volcano" and called for serious action by the world's leading industrialised nations. While the Giscardian liberals of the Union of French Democracy (UDF) had moved sharply to the right. The day was declared a national day of mourning in France and a minute of silence was held nationwide at 15:00. This surprising victory in the context of a Gaullist ebb permitted him to enter the government as Minister of Social Affairs. Chirac and others published the call of the 43 in favour of Giscard d'Estaing, the leader of the non-Gaullist part of the parliamentary majority. [45] He also reduced expenditure on nuclear weapons[46] and the French nuclear arsenal was reduced to include 350 warheads, compared to the Russian nuclear arsenal of 16,000 warheads. He obtained 20 percent of the vote in the first round, but lost the second with only 46 percent. The Israeli Air Force alleged that the reactor's imminent commissioning was a threat to its security, and pre-emptively bombed the Osirak reactor on 7 June 1981, provoking considerable anger from French officials and the United Nations Security Council. Following the referendum defeat, Chirac replaced his Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin with Domenique de Villepin. Veuillez consulter la liste des ministres sous Raffarin et sous Chirac. In an address to the nation, Chirac declared that the new cabinet's top priority was to curb unemployment, which was consistently hovering above 10 percent, calling for a "national mobilisation" to that effect. Au cours du défilé militaire du 14 Juillet 2002, il échappe à une tentative d'assassinat par Maxime Brunerie, militant d'extrême-droite. Two days later, Jean-Pierre Raffarin resigned and Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister of France. 8 and second row. Reelected in 1973, 1976. Even longtime Chirac supporters had lost their faith. Jacques Chaban-Delmas announced his candidacy in spite of the disapproval of the "Pompidolians". Jacques Chirac . Cela ne l’empêche pas de se représenter en 2002 et de remporter une nouvelle fois l’élection face à Jean-Marie Le Pen. The French president, by a 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. Future Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin acquired much of his popularity for his speech against the war at the United Nations (UN). La même année, au sommet de la Terre de Johannesburg, il lance cette phrase qui ma… When Nicolas Sarkozy became president in 2007, Juppé was one of the few "chiraquiens" to serve in François Fillon's government.[35]. Nevertheless, it has become apparent that he is also careful of hiding signs that may betray declining health. In November 2007 a preliminary charge of misuse of public funds was filed against him. 2002-2007: derniers coups d'éclat et marginalisation progressive. En 2002, il est largement réélu face à Jean-Marie Le Pen. C’est d’ailleurs un sénateur qu’il nomma Premier ministre en 2002, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, engageant avec lui l’acte II de la décentralisation jusqu’à la loi constitutionnelle du 28 mars 2003, dont vous connaissez mieux que quiconque les avancées considérables. Ce dernier met l'accent sur la lutte contre le déficit budgétaire et la dette de l'État afin de respecter le pacte de stabilité de l'Union européenne et d'assurer l'arrivée de l'euro. [citation needed][22], In April 1962, Chirac was appointed head of the personal staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. It has been said during other student crises that this event strongly affected Jacques Chirac, who was afterwards careful about possible police violence during such demonstrations (e.g., maybe explaining part of the decision to "promulgate without applying" the First Employment Contract (CPE) after large student demonstrations against it). Le 2 juin 1997, Jacques Chirac nomme Lionel Jospin Premier ministre. Jean-Louis Debré, president of the National Assembly and a faithful Chirac supporter, declared "I'm not sure that Jacques Chirac succeeded in his presidency. Le deuxième mandat de Jacques Chirac, bien qu’il dispose d’une majorité confortable au Parlement, semblera marqué par un effacement progressif, son ministre de l’Intérieur Nicolas Sarkozy s’affichant progressivement comme le véritable leader de la droite. It is unclear whether Jacques Chirac will run for a third mandate in 2007 and, should he not run or should he fail in a re-election bid, whether he risks prosecution and jail time for the various fraudulent schemes he has been named in. [89] On 30 October 2009, a judge ordered Chirac to stand trial on embezzlement charges, dating back to his time as mayor of Paris. He argued for more socially responsible economic policies and was elected president in the 1995 presidential election with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, beating Socialist Lionel Jospin, after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" (fracture sociale). After some months in the ministry for Relations with Parliament, Chirac's first high-level post came in 1972 when he became Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development under Pompidou, who had been elected president in 1969, after de Gaulle retired. Jacques Chirac est réélu le 5 mai 2002, avec 82,21% des voix face face au candidat Front National, Jean-Marie Le Pen. This led to a turn around by Chrirac and his Prime Minister on the April 10th saying the controversial law was to be scrapped. Thousands of people were invited each year to receptions in the Paris city hall, while many political, media and artistic personalities were hosted in private flats owned by the city. After 1981, the relationship between the two men became tense, with Giscard, even though he had been in the same government coalition as Chirac, criticising Chirac's actions openly. France led several other European countries in an effort to prevent the invasion. [73] A poll conducted in 2010 suggested he was the most admired political figure in France, while Sarkozy was 32nd. Chirac battu en 1988, Jospin humilié en 2002 : dans l'histoire, jamais un Premier ministre en fonction n'a été élu à la présidentielle. Chirac vainly attempted to rally Gaullists behind Prime Minister Pierre Messmer. [87], Chirac's immunity from prosecution ended in May 2007, when he left office as president. Chirac made comments stating that "the only worse food than British food is Finnish" and "the only thing the British have done for Europe's agriculture is mad cow disease". Le président du Modem évoque la relation ambivalente qu'il entretenait avec Jacques Chirac : "J'ai été son adversaire politique, et son ministre. [91] The President of Union for a Popular Movement, who later served as France's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Juppé, was sentenced to a 14-month suspended prison sentence for the same case in 2004. Jacques Chirac est ensuite nommé Premier Ministre en 1986 lors du mandat présidentiel de François Mitterrand. À son arrivée à l'Élysée, il nomme Alain Juppé Premier ministre. The Socialist Party (PS), joined by other parties on the left, soundly defeated Chirac's conservative allies, forcing Chirac into a new period of cohabitation with Jospin as prime minister (1997–2002), which lasted five years. The Osirak deal was then used by parts of the American media to criticise the Chirac-led opposition to starting a war in Iraq,[85] despite French involvement in the Gulf War. [96] Chirac said that "The Republic is not a dictatorship of rumours, a dictatorship of calumny. The RPR had broken down; a number of members had formed Eurosceptic breakaways. [52] In October 2004, Chirac signed a trade agreement with PRC President Hu Jintao where Alstom was given €1 billion in contracts and promises of future investment in China.[53]. Chirac seized the occasion to periodically criticise Jospin's government. Àn da Wàhla vum 17. in David Bell and John Gaffney, eds. Liste des ministres du Gouvernement de Jacques Chirac (1986-1988) sous la présidence de François Mitterrand (1981-1995) Gouvernement Chirac (20 mars 1986 - 10 mai 1988) : Jacques Chirac : Premier ministre. As the Supreme Commander of the French armed forces, he reduced the military budget, as did his predecessor. [93], On 15 December 2011, Chirac was found guilty and given a suspended sentence of two years. Since then it has been striving for peace through five advocacy programmes: conflict prevention, access to water and sanitation, access to quality medicines and healthcare, access to land resources, and preservation of cultural diversity. At the 2002 French presidential election, he won 82.2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Jacques Chirac sera le premier qui, réélu à l’Elysée en 2002, nommera dans son gouvernement une ministre issue de l’immigration et venue des quartiers difficiles, Tokia Saidi, qui ouvre la voie aux élites politiques issues de la diversité.Le bilan de Chirac restera mitigé. Le bilan de Chirac restera mitigé. [7] After pursuing these policies in his second term as Prime Minister, he changed his views. [56], Chirac criticized the Israeli offensive into Lebanon on 14 July 2006. [71], On 11 April 2008, Chirac's office announced that he had undergone successful surgery to fit a pacemaker. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including Minister of Agriculture and Minister of the Interior. Jacques Chirac sera le premier qui, réélu à l’Elysée en 2002, nommera dans son gouvernement une ministre issue de l’immigration et venue des quartiers difficiles, Tokia Saidi, qui ouvre la voie aux élites politiques issues de la diversité. [59], In July 2006, the G8 met to discuss international energy concerns. Suspected French involvement in "under the table" deals with Saddam Hussein have led many supporters of the war to question Chirac's motives in opposing the invasion of Iraq. The left-wing Socialist Party being in thorough disarray following Jospin's defeat, Chirac reorganized politics on the right, establishing a new party — initially called the Union of the Presidential Majority, then the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). In February 2014 he was admitted to hospital because of pains related to gout. Liste des ministres sous Chirac. Nommé Premier ministre en mai 2002, il remplace Lionel Jospin qui a été éliminé au premier tour de l’élection présidentielle, dépassé par Jean-Marie Le Pen, le candidat du Front national. Reelected in 1983, 1989. Giscard d'Estaing was elected as Pompidou's successor after France's most competitive election campaign in years. [77], Chirac died at his home in Paris on 26 September 2019, surrounded by his family. [61], Following major student protests in spring 2006, which followed civil unrest in autumn 2005 after the death of two young boys in Clichy-sous-Bois, one of the poorest communes in Paris' suburbs, Chirac retracted the proposed First Employment Contract (CPE) by "promulgating [it] without applying it", an unheard-of – and, some claim, illegal – move intended to appease the protesters while giving the appearance of not making a volte-face regarding the contract, and therefore to continue his support for his Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. [citation needed]. Struggle for the right-wing leadership: 1976–1986, State responsibility for the roundup of Jews. Il décède le 26 septembre 2019 à l’âge de 86 ans. Jacques Chirac, qui fut deux fois président de la République, deux fois Premier ministre, et trois fois maire de Paris, est mort après une vie consacrée à la politique. [16], Inspired by Charles de Gaulle, Chirac started to pursue a civil service career in the 1950s. Arbre et généalogie de J. Chirac. "The Mainstream Right: Chirac and Balladur." I'd at least like that he succeeds in his exit." Prime minister: 1974–76 (Resignation) / 1986–88. It had been expected that he would face incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin (PS) in the second round of elections; instead, Chirac faced far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front (FN), who came in 200,000 votes ahead of Jospin. On 27 February 1974, after the resignation of Raymond Marcellin, Chirac was appointed Minister of the Interior. He warned that "humanity is dancing on a volcano" and called for serious action by the world's leading industrialized nations. [57] However, Israeli Army Radio later reported that Chirac had secretly told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that France would support an Israeli invasion of Syria and the overthrow of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, promising to veto any moves against Israel in the United Nations or European Union. Chirac's decision to hold a referendum was thought to have been influenced in part by the surprise announcement that the United Kingdom was to hold a vote of its own. Nevertheless, the right won the 1993 legislative election. In a pre-recorded television broadcast aired on 11 March 2007, he announced, in a widely predicted move, that he would not choose to seek a third term as president. At the end of his first term it accounted for three percent of GDP. Il semble quelque peu dépassé par les événements. [76] According to his son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux, Chirac was again hospitalised in Paris with a lung infection on 18 September 2016. ... le 5 mai 2002. [citation needed], Giscard has always blamed Chirac for his defeat. He said his country's nuclear arsenal had been reconfigured to include the ability to make a tactical strike in retaliation for terrorism.[8]. The 14-day period between the two rounds of voting was marked by demonstrations against Le Pen and slogans such as "Vote for the crook, not for the fascist" or "Vote with a clothespin on your nose". He passed himself off, as a right-wing voter, by changing his voice. "[30] Foccart, who had also co-founded the Gaullist SAC militia (dissolved by Mitterrand in 1982 after the Auriol massacre) along with Charles Pasqua, and who was a key component of the "Françafrique" system, was again called to the Elysée Palace when Chirac won the 1995 presidential election. [83] As part of this deal, France sold Iraq the Osirak MTR nuclear reactor, designed to test nuclear materials. During an official visit to Madagascar on 21 July 2005, Chirac described the repression of the 1947 Malagasy uprising, which left between 80,000 and 90,000 dead, as "unacceptable". Gouvernement de Jean-Pierre Raffarin II, Premier ministre, 17 juin 2002 – 30 mars 2004. These elections were moved forward because of Pompidou's sudden death on 2 April 1974. [9] Chirac stated that "The Republic is not a dictatorship of rumours, a dictatorship of calumny." Édouard Balladur : Ministre d'État, ministre de l'économie, des finances et de la privatisation. [84], The Osirak deal became a controversy again in 2002–2003, when an international military coalition led by the United States invaded Iraq and forcibly removed Hussein's government from power.