Chirac retires, dogged by scandal

From The Australian, May 16, 2007 , by Emma-Kate Symons, Paris ....

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac will relinquish power to Nicolas Sarkozy in a ceremony at the Elysee Palace today [mazal tov!!!... to all of us - SL]....

...The outgoing President, best known internationally for his opposition to US "hyperpower" and sometimes dubbed "Chirac of Arabia", was scheduled to deliver his final televised address bidding farewell to the French people early this morning.

Despite some residual affection for Mr Chirac, who resumed French nuclear testing in the Pacific at the start of his first term, and led the boycott of the US-led invasion of Iraq, he is likely to be dogged into retirement by a corruption scandal.

The affair dates back to his days as Paris mayor... from 1977 to 1995 .... He has been accused of involvement in an illegal party funding racket. Under the "false jobs" scheme, fake posts were created for staff from his RPR party, who were paid out of Paris's mayoral coffers.

...Judicial leaks suggest Mr Chirac would be questioned by investigating judge Alain Philibeaux soon after his presidential immunity runs out on June 16.

.....Questions have been asked about why [Chirac and his wife], who own multiple properties in France, must live rent-free at the luxury apartment of their friends, the Hariri family. Assassinated former Lebanese opposition leader Rafik Hariri was close to Mr Chirac, but his inner circle have denied there is anything untoward in the retirement arrangements.

Mr Chirac's domestic political legacy is unimpressive, with unemployment still high at more than 8 per cent, and youth unemployment running at about 25 per cent or more in the poorer immigrant-dominated suburbs.

...The end of Mr Chirac's political career began in May 2005, when the referendum he championed for an EU constitution was rejected by the French.

On foreign policy, Mr Chirac had many enemies in US neoconservative and Israeli politics, owing to his staunch opposition to the Iraq war and sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Mr Chirac was often accused of being too close to Arab dictators and corrupt regimes, including Saddam Hussein's before the first Gulf War....