Chirac looks back on 'annus mirabilis'

Mr Chirac has grand plans for French diplomacy

By Alexandra Fouché BBC News Online

French President Jacques Chirac is celebrating his 70th birthday on Friday and he will no doubt look back on the past year with satisfaction and perhaps a certain degree of bewilderment.

A year ago, he was beset by corruption allegations, and with a presidential election just months away, he seemed on the verge of political oblivion.

Now, he is back in the driving seat and eager to make his mark on France's destiny at last - following in the footsteps of the great French presidents of the past.

Among his many assets, Jacques Chirac has, like de Gaulle 'a certain idea of France'

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair

Since being re-elected in May this year - after an unexpectedly easy second round against the National Front - he has no longer had to share power with a troublesome socialist government.

And he has been extraordinarily active on the international front - as if to make up for lost time.

"He again carries the message of a 'Great Nation', as our neighbours call France not without irony," wrote political analyst Jerome Jaffre in Le Monde.

"A country concerned with the future of the planet in Johannesburg, which acts on behalf of peace at the United Nations and defends more prosaically its interests against Germany and England."

Chirac's life and career

Born 29 November 1932

1956: Marries Bernadette Chodron de Courcel

Two children: Laurence and Claude

1977-1995: Mayor of Paris

1974-1976 and 1986-1988: Prime Minister

Since 1995: President

Mr Chirac's renewed determination to make his mark was most evident over his stance on Iraq.

In this case, he was able to offer an alternative to the gung-ho American approach to all-out war by insisting on UN approval for any military action.

"The crux of the matter," Mr Chirac said last month, "is that the international community must not provide cover for any 'automaticity' of intervention against Iraq before we know the extent to which the Iraqi authorities are actually going to co-operate with the weapons inspections."

In the event, US President George W Bush was force to make a key concession by agreeing to a second meeting of the United Nations' Security Council to "consider" the situation if Iraq was in breach of the new inspections regime.

Europe's leading man

Mr Chirac has not been idle on the European front either.

Against the odds, he has kept alive the Franco-German axis - the EU's traditional driving force - going even if the political orientation of the newly re-elected German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder may not be to his liking.

Chirac want to show Blair who is boss

The two leaders, for example, agreed over the need to put off any reform to European farming subsidies until at least 2013, thus paving the way for EU enlargement.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was reportedly angered by the backroom deal struck without his knowledge, in the by now well-publicised Anglo-French row.

But Mr Blair himself seems to have relented and on Thursday sent Mr Chirac a gushing letter to wish him well on his birthday.

In it, Mr Blair writes: "Jacques Chirac is a great man in every sense of the term, and he knows perfectly well how to combine the values of democracy and the role that France must play in the world. I respect that."

He goes on to say: "As I have good reason to believe, Jacques Chirac is not the type to become a quiet 70-year-old. Thank goodness! Among his many assets, he has, like de Gaulle 'a certain idea of France'."

Mr Popular

At home Mr Chirac has been careful to leave the tricky bread-and-butter issues to be dealt with by his prime minister, the steadfast Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Some observers note, however, that with a reformed five-year presidential term coupled to a five-year parliamentary term, the risk that he may be blamed for any government failures has increased.

It seems, however, that at the moment he can do no wrong. One recent poll gives him an approval rating of 62%, up from 54% in October.

Interestingly a majority of French people thinks he is doing a good job over foreign policy, but fewer trust him to resolve the country's problems.

Mr Chirac has another four years and a bit to figure out how to resolve that small domestic difficulty - by which time he may well decide to run for president again.