The IDU mourns the loss of its Founding Father Jacques Chirac
The International Democrat Union (IDU) mourns the loss of the 22nd President of the French Republic and one of its Founding Fathers, former IDU Vice Chairman Jacques Chirac, an exceptional politician, statesman and passionate European.
Chirac was President for 12 years after winning the election in 1995 and again in 2002. He was Prime Minister from 1974 to 1976, and again from 1986 to 1988.
At the peak of the Cold War in 1983 sharing the same ideals of democracy and freedom, the then mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac founded together with likeminded political leaders like Margaret Thatcher, George H. W. Bush and Helmut Kohl the International Democrat Union. “The free society is an open and pluralistic society, the main objective of which is the development of the individual – unlike totalitarian societies which are only interested in the development of the collective body”, Chirac stated at IDU’s inaugural assembly on June 24, 1983 in London.
Together with his likeminded party leaders, Chirac challenged the unequal and oppressing communist societies forming a global network of Christian-democrat and conservative parties to promote ideas of personal freedom and free markets all over the world.
On behalf of IDU Chairman, The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper and the whole IDU family we would like to extend our condolences to Jacques Chirac’s family, his closest friends and the Republican party in France. We will honour and preserve his heritage. May he rest in peace.
IDU Secretariat
September 26th, 2019
Munich, Germany