Chirac to say goodbye to France

French President Jacques Chirac ends his final full day in office today with an evening farewell to the nation that he has led for 12 years.

Mr Chirac, 74, was to address the French on national television before handing over power tomorrow to president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy, a one-time political rival, but a conservative like himself.

Stepping down from the presidency, Mr Chirac will be closing out some four decades in politics. Chirac founded the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic party, today transformed into the Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP that Mr Sarkozy headed before being elected president on May 6.

The outgoing president built up the mainstream right into a powerful political machine that, along with the Socialist Party, has been the dominating force in French politics.

He still risks paying a price for his ambitious search for funds for his party. Without presidential immunity, Mr Chirac could be called on in corruption investigations into alleged illegal party financing.

Mr Chirac said his goodbye to Europe on Sunday in Berlin, insisting on the need for a strong role for Europe in a “multipolar” world – two issues that were a mainstay of foreign policy under Mr Chirac but which so far remain unfulfilled.