Chirac Sworn In, Names Juppe Prime Minister : France: Choice of ex-foreign minister welcomed as sign of new president’s commitment to broad change.

Jacques Chirac officially became France’s new president on Wednesday, succeeding Socialist Francois Mitterrand and beginning his long-promised process of change in the country by appointing Alain Juppe to govern as prime minister.

The appointment of Juppe, the highly respected 49-year-old former foreign minister, was expected and welcomed in France as an indication of Chirac’s desire to carry out his promise of broad change with bright, dynamic young leaders at the helm.

A moderate conservative and leader of Chirac’s Rally for the Republic party, Juppe is regarded as a pragmatist who can translate the new president’s often-vague promises into concrete policies.

The inauguration ceremony at the Elysee Palace, heralded with a 21-gun salute by three tanks at Napoleon’s burial site across the Seine, made Chirac, 62, the 22nd president of France and the fifth in the Fifth Republic founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1958.

Mitterrand, who has prostate cancer and did not seek a third term, stepped down after 14 years in power “without regret or bitterness, but with the same tranquillity with which I arrived,” he told Socialist Party supporters at a farewell. “I’m entering the final stage of my life. It cannot be very long.”

Chirac, a conservative who was twice defeated by Mitterrand in 1981 and 1988, later paid homage to the outgoing president as a man “who left his imprint on the nation.” And, after the ceremony and a private meeting, Chirac escorted the 78-year-old former leader to the door of the Elysee Palace.

In remarks to 1,500 dignitaries gathered for the inauguration, Chirac returned to his promise of change, declaring that the unemployment rate, now 12.2%, “will be my preoccupation at all times.”

“I feel that hope has been vested in me,” Chirac said. “My only ambition is to make the French people more unified, more equal and to make France more vibrant.” And he said he hopes to heal the “social fracture” in France caused by, among other things, the alienation felt by immigrants.

On matters of policy, Chirac suggested that he would favor a closer relationship with NATO, saying that France should move toward full membership. It was De Gaulle, after whom Chirac has fashioned his political career, who took France out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military wing in 1966, though France has in recent years been increasing its role in the alliance.

Juppe succeeds fellow conservative Edouard Balladur, who has headed the government since legislative elections ousted the Socialists from power in 1993. Balladur ran for president, but finished third and did not make it to the May 7 final round, in which Chirac defeated Socialist Lionel Jospin.

Juppe is to announce his new government later this week.

* ECONOMIC CHALLENGES: Chirac faces daunting joblessness, other problems. D1