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Former French President Valerie Giscard d’Estaing has died at the age of 94, according to sources close to him.
D’Esten, who was born in 1926 in Koblenz, Germany and was promoted to France’s highest office in 1974, was recently admitted to a hospital in the western French city of Tours, according to the APE-MPE.
“His condition had deteriorated and he died of complications from COVID-19,” the family said in a press release sent to AFP.
“As was his wish, his funeral will be held in a close family circle,” according to the family and the Foundation that bears his name.
Valerie Giscard d’Estaing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
His life
He was born in 1926 in Koblenz, Germany, where his father served as the chief financial officer for the French occupation authorities after the First World War.
She graduated from Sally’s Lyceum Johnson in Paris. During his youth he served in the armor of the Free French Army. After his studies at the Grande Ecole – ENA, he graduated from the Polytechnic School, graduated sixth in a row and was appointed Financial Inspector.
Giscard d’Estaing with Nicolas Sarkozy
AP
With the Independent Republican Party, he was elected a member of the French National Assembly.
In 1959 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance and three years later Minister of Finance of France at the age of 36 and went down in history as the youngest French Minister of Finance.
From 1974 to 1981 he was president of the French Republic, following a center-right policy.
Giscard d’Estaing with the President of the Central African Republic Jean-Bentel Bocas
AP
During his tenure in high office, France stabilized as the second largest economy in Europe and the fourth in the world. Like Charles de Gaulle, he promoted the strengthening of French-German relations but, unlike de Gaulle, he supported Britain’s accession to the EEC.
In addition, he promoted the modernization of French society by imposing consensual divorce and legalizing abortions, and was one of the architects of European integration.
In 1981, he lost the elections to François Mitterrand, while at the same time Jacques Chirac, his former prime minister, divided the Conservative Party against him.
His relationship with Greece
He was a good friend of the Greek Prime Minister and President of the Republic Konstantinos Karamanlis and had supported Greece’s accession to the EEC.
Valerie Giscard d’Estaing with Jacques Chirac
ASSOCIATED PRESS
D’Estenne was the one who got rid of the plane, which transported Konstantinos Karamanlis from Paris to Elliniko in the early hours of July 23, 1974.
Furthermore, in 1974 he promised to help Greece with an emergency and immediate dispatch of the necessary Mirage number in case of conflict with Turkey.
However, at the time of the memoranda, he had called for Greece to declare bankruptcy: “If a country cannot restore its balance sheet, it must leave the eurozone and devalue its currency.” “He stated.
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