French Prepare For Final Farewell To Ex-president Chirac

The French public on Sunday began bidding a final farewell to late former president Jacques Chirac, fondly remembered as a charismatic giant of domestic and international politics despite a mixed legacy.

Chirac's death on Thursday aged 86 prompted a flood of tributes to a man whose high-profile political career spanned three decades capped by 12 years as president from 1995-2007.

But it also sparked questions about how much this consumate political operator had actually achieved during a long spell in office and again threw the spotlight on a 2011 conviction for graft over his time as Paris mayor.

Nevertheless, a poll in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed that the French consider him to have been their best president of the modern era, alongside Charles de Gaulle.

From midday GMT on Sunday, Chirac's coffin will lie in state at the Saint-Louis-des-Invalides cathedral at the Invalides memorial complex in central Paris for the French public to come and pay their last respects.

Long queues were already forming of people wanting to pay hommage to Chirac.

'Don't have that today'

The tribute, which will take place in the presence of his family, is related to "the strong relationship that Jacques Chirac had with the French," his son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told AFP.

The French presidency had since Thursday night thrown open the doors of the Elysee Palace for anyone wanting to write in condolence books. By the time the doors shut on Saturday evening, 5,000 people had done so.

"A page is turning," said Christine, 60, as she signed the book. "He had a human side that we don't have in politics today," added Thibaud, 23.

Sunday's events will be followed on Monday by a national day of mourning in France, with a minute of silence to be observed in all public institutions and schools.

The coffin of Chirac will at 0900 GMT Monday leave the Invalides, under a military escort through the streets of Paris, before arriving at the Saint-Sulpice church for a final memorial service attended by President Emmanuel Macron.

The Elysee said some 30 heads of state and government are expected to be present, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Former leaders who worked closely with Chirac, notably including German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, will also be there.

Chirac's successors Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, will attend, the Elysee said. France's current political class will all be there, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose father and former far-right chief Jean-Marie Le Pen made no secret of his enmity for Chirac.

In a rare public appearance, also present will be the third president of France's modern fifth republic Valery Giscard d'Estaing, 93, who has now outlived his successor Francois Mitterrand who died in 1996, and Chirac.

In the final act, Chirac will be buried at the Montparnasse cemetery in southern Paris, next to his daughter Laurence who died in 2016 aged 58 following a battle with anorexia.

'No angel'

Perhaps Chirac's most significant political decision was opposing the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He also presided over a significant cut in road deaths, acknowledged France's role in the deportation of Jews in World War II and warned of the risk of climate change before it rose high on the political agenda.

But many tributes focused not on policy achievements but the sheer charisma and genuine love for his country of a man who Macron said Thursday "embodied a certain idea of France."

According to the Ifop survey in Le Journal du Dimanche, based on interviews with 1,015 people, 30 percent of French now see Chirac as their best president, the same rating as de Gaulle.

"But to experience all these tests and embody the spirit of a nation, is this not the legacy of a great president? It is at least that of a great man," it wrote.