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

Thedebonair74-year-old turns over power Wednesday to tough-talking fellow conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, who won election on pledges of a break with the past.

Stepping down from the presidency, 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 Sarkozy headed before being elected president on May 6.

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

Chirac said his goodbye to Europe on Sunday in Berlin, insisting on the need for a strong role for Europe in a "multipolar" world -- an issue that was a mainstay of foreign policy under Chirac but which so far remains unfulfilled.

The concept of a "multipolar" world to counter the United States is dear to Chirac, and he made it come alive with the French-led opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Chirac has no intention of retiring to his rural Correze region in central France. He plans to create a foundation devoted to sustainable development and dialogue between cultures, to be launched this fall.

The only other president to issue a televised farewell to the nation was Valery Giscard d'Estaing, on May 19, 1981, before turning over power to Socialist President Francois Mitterrand. With a much remembered final "au revoir," Giscard stood, made an exit and left an empty chair in the spotlight.

法国总统希拉克于本周二结束了自己最后一天的工作，并于当晚向自己领导了12年的国家发表了告别演说。

这位74岁、温文尔雅的法国总统今天将向新当选的总统尼古拉斯·萨科奇正式移交政权，同为保守人士的萨科奇作风果敢，凭着与过去的法国决裂的诺言赢得了大选。

希拉克离任后将告别他四十多年的政治生涯，他所成立的共和党“新戴高乐主义”同盟今日将为萨科奇在5月6日当选总统前所领导的“人民运动联盟”取代。

此外，希拉克可能将要因大肆为所属政党集资而付出代价。失去了总统身份的保护，希拉克可能将受到党内非法集资贪污案指控的调查。

希拉克于上周日在柏林向欧洲告别，并坚持欧洲应在多极世界中扮演重要角色。这个到目前为止尚未解决的问题是希拉克在任期间外交政策的主题。

希拉克十分重视能对美国起到牵制作用的“多极世界”的理念，由法国领导的反“伊战”同盟便是它的一个重要体现。

希拉克并没有打算退休后到家乡--法国中部的Correze乡村地区生活，他计划于今年秋天成立一个致力于可持续发展和文化交流的基金会。

法国另一位在离任前向全国发表告别电视讲话的总统是瓦勒里·季斯卡·德斯坦，他于1981年5月19日向社会党的佛朗哥·密特朗总统移交政权之前发表了电视讲话。当时，德斯坦说完那句令人难忘的“再见”之后，站起来、退下台去，只留下一把空椅子在聚光灯下。

Vocabulary:

debonair : affable; genial（温雅的；友善的）