Jacques Chirac: Haiti Was Not Colonized By French

INTERVIEW - The former president mentioned the case of DSK and warns against slippage in the presidential campaign.

LE FIGARO .- You write that "there is life after power." What is your new life?

Jacques Chirac.

- After forty years of service to the French, after twelve years as President of the Republic, it is difficult to invent a new life, I'm not going to hide it. I did was not prepared for the exercise of my mandate, because until the last day I wanted to devote myself to the task had been entrusted by the French.

Only after I left the Elysee I thought about how to "serve otherwise." This new life was not obvious.

I gave myself three tasks.

First assume my mission as a member of the Constitutional Council, even if I temporarily put aside the institution time of my trial.

Then, through my foundation, concrete projects to advance the causes that are vital to my eyes: the world peace, sustainable development and dialogue between cultures.

Finally, stay tuned and available for the French and transmit the lessons I learned from my years in the service of France.

The two volumes of my memoirs contribute.

I also gained four years that I missed probably the most: a little time for me and mine. Because politics is a life of service ...

and a life of sacrifice.

Is your book a settling of accounts with Nicolas Sarkozy

I saw many things in my political life, and I'm still always surprised.

That in this book of 600 pages, it can be pulled here and there a sentence sickens me. I wanted the memories to pass a vision and values ​​through what I called a "political testament".

Regarding my successor, I stood and I always keep to one line: never interfere with its action by any comment whatsoever.

What is your relationship with him?

They are good. You know, we know well, and for a very long time. We, today, frank relations, cordial and personal.

And more than anything else, I know the difficulty of his task.

You say he was "touched" that Nicolas Sarkozy did not mention your name in his first speech as president-elect.

You're told you?

I believe in the continuity of the state.

It is a key Republican principle.

No politician is owner of his office.

No politician is in office forever.

As in life, we inherit from our elders, without having chosen, and is transmitted to our successors.

It always pays to take his inheritance.

So yes, I was touched by this omission.

I was also because I think not having to be ashamed of the state in which we left France in 2007. I am proud of the record that I presented to the French.

Nicolas Sarkozy a record that could, despite the theme of the break, claiming its full share.

A record of which I am convinced it was a significant element of his victory.

You praise Alain Juppe.

Was it you would have dreamed that successor?

In the Republic, the people who choose.

I never had in mind to appoint a successor.

However, everyone knows the relationships I have always maintained with Alain Juppe.

I esteem and affection for him. He is a man of conviction and commitment.

It has always served his country with rigor.

He pegged the body a sense of interest and a very high opinion of France's role in the world.

Would you like Dominique de Villepin is a candidate in 2012?

Dominique de Villepin is a man of character and ideas.

It was an excellent prime minister.

But do not expect me that I am interfering in the presidential debate to come. This is not my role. I do not do politics and I will not intervene unless exceptional circumstances require.

Regarding your question, be a candidate in the presidential election is a choice filled, staff, demanding, which is based on a given political situation and is based on a vision of the future of our country.

Here we are at the heart of the magic of the Fifth Republic.

The presidential election is the encounter between a man and a people.

You were behind the creation of the UMP in 2002. Ten years later, do you fear the explosion?

With the creation of the UMP, we wanted to install in French politics a great modern and popular party, capable of debating and proposing, capable of supporting a presidential candidate and, if elected, to consolidate its action.

This requirement of unity and coming together seems as strong today as yesterday.

To be sustainable, the UMP must have it all their way to different sections of right and center because each has a strong identity.

You call the French to beware of "multiple masks the extreme right." With Marine Le Pen's National Front has it become common?

The extreme right will never change.

It is and will remain an ideology that comes smack into anything that builds our history and identity.

Turn to the National Front is not protesting is to support a party of racist and xenophobic.

The solutions proposed by leaders of the FN, whoever they are, are meaningless and dangerous.

They can only lead to division and confrontation between the French and economically, through the release of the euro and protectionism, worsen dramatically the situation of the vulnerable.

The rejection of the other differences, democratic values, economic and social progress can only lead us to the worst decline and disaster.

Our country's strength, its greatness, unity, values ​​of freedom, equality and fraternity of which he is carrying.

It is for politicians from the Republican training to adduce concrete answers to the difficulties of the French.

The Republican right, especially, can convince remaining itself.

It's also for public authorities to enforce the entire national territory of Republic Act with great firmness.

Thus we avoid a new April 21 and that France, a pioneer country, beacon of freedom, remain faithful to his ideal.

In 2004, you did pass the law against the Islamic veil at school.

What do you think of banning the burqa?

The principle of secularism is vital because it allows everyone to live serenely religious beliefs and respect each other.

After an extensive public debate, I decided it was necessary to protect public school events of overt religious affiliation, such as to affect the peace essential to public service education.

The same logic that guides the headscarf ban in full. This may offend the sensibilities of many and jeopardize the very foundations of the principle of secularism.

The implementation of this prohibition is complex because it covers the entire public space.

It must be made with care, respect and education.

Always remember that secularism is not opposed to religious practice, but that asking just a framework, it is a condition of religious freedom.

On secularism, always, you pay homage to Francois Hollande who was acting as "statesman"

I did not intend to assign good or bad points to this or that. I wanted to testify at a critical time for our country, where some, right and left, questioned the need to firmly remember the rules of secularism, Francois Hollande has shown courage, lucidity and a great sense of responsibility.

He has come out of party politics to the choice of best interests.

Unfortunately this is not so common.

How did you react to the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

Like all the French, I was amazed at this news. Stunned at the seriousness of the act which he is charged.

Also stunned by the global media and political storm that has caused this event.

In such circumstances, I think we should stick to a principle, that of respect.

Respect for the word of the woman who accuses.

Respect, also, the presumption of innocence of the accused.

It is justice to establish the truth of what happened.

Hopefully it does so quickly.

Business DSK, Tron, Ferry ...

How do you rate the political climate?

I do not want the French come to believe that politics is this. The policy is to serve his country, defended his beliefs, build a project.

Is try to find solutions to the problems of the French improve their lives, discuss the future.

That's what I remember from all those years in French service.

But my experience also taught me that the campaign could be extremely violent.

With only months to a presidential election crucial to the future of our country, take care not to leave the framework of respect for others, the discussion of ideas and comparison of projects.

We owe the French.

What inspired you the controversy surrounding a radars?

When in 2002 I made the fight against road violence one of the three sites my five-year, France had more than eight thousand deaths per year on the roads.

This situation was even more shocking than the means for reducing exist.

Governments, along with associations, have mobilized.

And the results have been spectacular.

I am very proud.

In five years, 10,000 deaths and 100,000 injuries were avoided.

This proves that politics can change what is sometimes portrayed as inevitable.

Motorists and motorcyclists need to understand that this fight is a fight for life. If the removal of the radar signal may, as seems the case, to contribute, then do not hesitate.

Nothing should be neglected in this fight.

There is no controversy that is worth about death of innocent people on the roads.

Time, you say, is not "a dominant energy source." France should she set the output of nuclear power?

Nuclear power is an energy that France can not happen yet. However, this does not mean we have to stick to the logic of status quo. Long ago we began to act to build a new energy model in three directions: to give a major place for renewable energy to nuclear offer the best guarantees of security, such as EPR, amplify our efforts on the economy energy.

In the field of energy, research is essential and appears likely to revolutionize our future conditions of production and consumption.

That is why France is the engine in the ITER project's energy future.

We must commit ourselves fully to the energy revolution that is running.

What do you think the Arab revolutions?

I see essentially a message of optimism and hope, a sign that the aspiration for a better future is universal.

I also see evidence of the fundamentally wrong with the idea that I have repeatedly denounced, namely the inevitability of a clash of civilizations.

As if some of them would carry the model inherently democratic and others not. It is also striking that these movements are often part of the youth in countries where there was already a certain standard of living and education.

Where will the "Arab spring"?

All countries will they follow the same path to democracy?

The answers to these questions are not written in advance.

What is certain, however, is that our interest is to strongly support the political and economic reforms.

During these twelve years at the Elysee, what is your proudest achievement?

Without a doubt, have given the best of myself in French service.

And what is your greatest regret?

He was not able to give even more.

What is your prognosis for 2012?

There has not gained or lost an election in advance.

Never.

In what state of mind do you approach your trial?

In the serenity and respect for justice.

The French are worried for your health this winter.

How do you do?

Do not worry, I'm doing really well.

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