(14 Jul 1995) Eng/French/Nat

President Jacques Chirac worked on boosting his image Friday during the Bastille Day celebrations in France.

Instead of the usual politicians and celebrities, four-thousand young people from all over the country were invited to the annual garden party at the Elysee Palace.

More than four-thousand soldiers marched in the military parade in Paris on France's Bastille Day.

And more than four-thousand young people got a chance to see the parade in person.

The young French boys and girls came in buses from across the nation at the invitation of President Jacques Chirac for them to attend the annual garden party at the Elysee Palace.

The post-election honeymoon is over and Chirac needs to improve his image after facing problems over domestic policies and announcing the resumption of nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

The traditional parade with French military hardware and power on display was particularly significant in light of the deepening Bosnia crisis - French troops make up the largest single U-N contingent in Bosnia.

While the future of French soldiers in the war torn country is debated, thousands cheered on the troops as they marched through the capital.

After the parade, youth - not the usual politicians - showed up at the presidential palace to attend the elite garden party with Chirac and his prime minister Alain Juppe.

Chirac attracted a strong youth vote in his May election victory.

Since then he has slipped in the polls, although they maintain approval ratings of over 50 per cent.

But polls also indicate that the French youth are most supportive of the conservative government's unpopular plans to cut business taxes to fight the high unemployment.

And the youngsters at the garden party gave the new president the thumbs up.

VOXPOP (in English)
"I think he wanted to show to everybody that the young people supported him during the election and still now supporting him."

VOXPOP (in French)
"Now I think that often during the campaign that Chirac attracted the young, and that Chirac had a very young image, and I think what is happening here today at the Elysee proves that it is not purely an image or a disguise he used during the campaign, it was really an aim of his, he really did attract the young and we can see that he really did think about us."

The national celebrations mark the storming of the Bastille prison in eastern Paris on July 14, 1789, setting off the French Revolution that toppled King Louis XVI.

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