Former French Prez Giscard d'Estaing dies at 94
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Dec 5, 2020
The family of the deceased said in a statement that he died December 2 at his home in Loir-et-Cher, France, after his health had deteriorated due to COVID-19 complications.
"His state of health had deteriorated and he died as a result of #COVID19". Estaing's family told AFP that his funeral will be a very private affair, as per his wishes.
Giscard - who governed for a single seven-year term from 1974 to 1981 - visited China for the first time as president in 1980, just as the country was beginning to open up to the outside world. Under his presidency, France worked with its partners to put in place the European monetary system that laid the groundwork for the creation of a common currency for the European Union.
Dubbed the "French Kennedy" for featuring his family in his campaigns, a novelty in France, he strove for a more relaxed style than his patrician predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou.
Valery Giscard d'Estaing, left, as Finance Minister and Jacques Chirac as Secretary of State to Finance leave Elysee Palace in 1969.
Valery Giscard d'Estaing made several decisive changes early on in his term in office by lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 and relaxing divorce and abortion laws, despite a fierce opposition from the Catholic Church.
He lost his re-election bid in 1981 to Socialist Francois Mitterrand.
He also hosted African garbage collectors to breakfast on Christmas Day and invited himself, cameras in tow, to dinner at the homes of ordinary citizens.
Giscard involved his family in his political appearances, had the blue and red of France's "tricolore" flag toned down, and the Marseillaise national anthem slowed.
After joining the French Resistance during World War II, he next saw Germany as a tank commander in the French military in 1944.
In 2001, he was selected by European leaders to lead work on the bloc's constitutional treaty.
