Former French President Jacques Chirac, who led France from 1995 to 2007, has died at the age of 86, his family said.
Energetic, engaging and passionate, Chirac had been at the centre of French politics for nearly half a century and had dealings with every world leader since Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Soviet Union.
Chirac has been president of France twice and prime minister twice in addition to serving as mayor of Paris for 18 years. In 2002, Chirac defeated far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen – the father of Marine Le Pen, the president of the National Rally party – in the second round of a presidential election.
The president of the European Commission and former Luxembourg premier, Jean-Claude Juncker, was “moved and devastated” to learn of Chirac’s death.
“Europe is not only losing a great statesman but the president is losing a great friend,” European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva quoted Juncker as saying.
Juncker wants to “pay tribute and honour his extensive lifelong work, and his legacy for France and the European Union will stay with us forever,” she added.
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