Archiv: Jacques Chirac


15.02.2024 - 16:49 [ EuropeanLeadershipNetwork.org ]

An offer postponed: Berlin’s silence on Macron’s deterrence thinking

(25 August 2020)

Neither the offer to discuss the option of a dissuasion élargie (extended deterrence) that had been floating since 1976 nor the idea of a dissuasion concertée (concerted deterrence), which was brought forward by then-foreign minister Alain Juppé in 1995 and renewed by president Chirac in 2006, were able to capture Berlin’s outspoken interest.

President Macron, however, knows that he must act carefully when reaching out to the Germans, especially if he were to recall how Nicolas Sarkozy carelessly raised nuclear issues in his 2007 visit.

26.09.2019 - 15:51 [ France24.com ]

Jacques Chirac, a giant of French politics, dies at 86

Chirac was barely a year into his second presidential term when he was faced with the biggest diplomatic challenge of his career as then US president George W. Bush attempted to build a “coalition of the willing” against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

The French leader was resolutely unwilling to join the coalition, emerging as a formidable voice of opposition against a military invasion. His Gallic “non” frayed France’s relations with the US and Britain, but it also won him legions of admirers at home and abroad.