Chirac bows out of EU's "fantastic adventure"

BRUSSELS, Mar 9 (Reuters) President Jacques Chirac bowed out of his last European Union summit in Brussels today with fond memories of his role in the bloc's ''fantastic adventure'', but not without the odd regret.

Chirac is due on Sunday to announce he will not stand for re-election next month, ending a controversial political career spanning four decades and marking his retreat from a European stage he often managed to dominate.

''Europe was a fantastic adventure which was not always easy for the French whose deep attachment to their country, history, culture and fatherland is well-known,'' he told a news conference after a two-day summit focusing on climate change.

After Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Chirac is the longest-serving EU leader still in office.

While he will attend a last EU meeting in Berlin later this month, the Brussels talks were his last formal summit and he appeared well-prepared for a reporter's question inviting him to sum up what he had brought to the 27-country Union.

Citing three main achievements, Chirac recalled his efforts to found a European defence policy with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his efforts on the environment and his backing for the euro, which replaced national currencies in 2002.

''It wasn't sure that the euro would happen at the time we took the decision we took, a brave decision,'' he said of the tough negotiations through the 1990s to launch the currency.

Yet Chirac was silent on what many will see as his most visible contribution to EU politics -- his staunch defence of the EU subsidies on which French farmers have long counted.

Nor did he address the accusations of economic nationalism levelled at him by critics for seeking to shield French companies from a wave of cross-border mergers in recent years.

UNREPENTANT He was unrepentant about his comment at an EU summit in 2003 when he told future members Poland and the Czech Republic they had ''missed an opportunity to shut up'' when they unilaterally signalled their support to Washington over the Iraq war.

''What I was saying is that it is the European way to start by discussing things ... it was their lack of experience I was denouncing, which has nothing to do with enlargement,'' he said.

But he acknowledged regret at failing to win a 2005 referendum on a planned EU constitution, whose rejection by French and Dutch voters has left the bloc in a stalemate.

''The French were deceived in that affair. They were told that voting 'No' was voting against the government,'' he said of the campaign agains the charter.

''I am sorry for perhaps not having done all that should have been done to avoid what has been a bad thing for both Europe and France.'' Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told Reuters Chirac ''has been a great friend to Ireland over the 20 years I have known him. Irish farmers owe him a lot. He contributed to the survival of Irish agriculture. For that we thank him.'' Outraged British newspapers reported in 2005 that Chirac had privately commented to other leaders that only Finland had worse food than Britain in Europe, and that mad cow disease was Britain's sole contribution to European agriculture.

REUTERS PDM KN2241