2007 Timeline

March 2007 events

President of France, Jaques Chirac who served as President since 1995 formally announced that he will not candidate for the third term on March 11, 2007. Chirac's political career was launched in 1962 when he was appointed head of the personal staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. On Pompidou suggestion Chirac candidated for a seat in the French National Assembly in 1967 and was elected deputy for Corrèze département. From 1968 to 1971 he worked as state secretary of economy and in 1972 became minister of agriculture and rural development. In 1974 was Chirac was appointed Minister of the Interior but when Giscard d'Estaing succeeded Pompidou, Jaques Chirac became the Prime Minister of France in the same year. At the end of 1974 he became also the leader of the Gaullist party Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR). However, in 1976 Chirac resigned as the Prime Minister of France but won the elections for the Mayor of Paris one year later, 1977. Jaques Chirac held the office of the Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995 when he was elected President of France.