Chirac calls early election to seek support for reform

THE FRENCH President, Mr Jacques Chirac, last night dissolved parliament and called early elections to take place on May 25th and June 1st. Speaking on French Television and radio, Mr Chirac asked the French people to give him their support for economic reforms and for European integration.

Without specifically mentioning the extreme right National Front, he condemned "calls to hatred" and appealed for tolerance and the "respect of Republican values".

Although Mr Chirac's centre right coalition is expected to lose many of the 464 seats it held in the 577-strong parliament, it probably would have lost far more if the elections were held next March as originally scheduled. In opinion polls published at the weekend, Mr Chirac scored a 31 per cent approval rating, while only 27 per cent of those surveyed held a favourable opinion of the Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe.

Mr Chirac claimed his administration had "re-established the conditions for growth, and this policy is starting to give results... but we must go further on the path of change." For this, he said, "France needs a new burst of energy... we must reduce public expenditure.

The European Union had ensured peace for the past half century, Mr Chirac said, and in a changing world it offered prosperity and security.

The final qualification for Economic and Monetary Union would have coincided with parliamentary elections in the spring of 1998. It was mainly to avoid this chat Mr Chirac called early elections.

Mr Lionel Jospin, the opposition Socialist leader, accused Mr Chirac of calling the French to vote "before the true extent of the failure of his economic policies becomes obvious".

He said Mr Chirac was adopting an "Anglo-Saxon, globalist economic model". He was for Europe, Mr Jospin said, but not at the cost of abandoning France.