Jacques Chirac, who has died aged 86, was a formidable political animal with enormous charm and great energy, crucial assets in his hard-fought ascent to the French presidency.

Yet when Chirac won the ultimate political prize in 1995 at his third attempt, he made little use of his powers to tackle France’s problems. He was more a political survivor than a statesman; a dealmaker, not a strategist. The fifth president of the Fifth Republic, he was the last to serve the constitution’s seven-year term and the first to initiate changes to cut the mandate to five years.

He acquired an unrivalled experience of foreign affairs and saw himself as the doyen of European leaders. But his endeavours were ultimately undermined by the French electorate’s rejection of the planned EU constitution in a 2005 referendum. The constitution was a French idea. The No vote in France killed the project and eroded France’s traditional role as the motor of European integration alongside Germany.