A modernizer and a convinced European.
Here are the two adjectives that come up the most this Wednesday evening in the many tributes paid to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
The one who was at the head of the French Republic from 1974 to 1981 died Wednesday in his property in Loir-et-Cher as a result of a Covid-19 infection.
François Bayrou
, one of his distant "heirs" on the political spectrum, celebrated a man who "dominated by the liveliness of his intelligence and the strength of his intuitions" and who "blew a great wind of modernity on French society ”.
Jean-Christophe Lagarde
, boss of the UDI, was also quick to greet this figure of the center-right liberal and Christian Democrat.
“The UDI and our entire political family is in mourning.
France owes him the right to abortion, the vote at 18, the creation of the euro, nuclear energy independence, TGVs, and so many other things!
The MP said on Twitter.
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Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a modern presidency ... and monarchical
The Macronist majority is also attached to celebrating the memory of the one whose practice of power is often compared to that of Emmanuel Macron.
"The European ideal loses one of its founders, France, a President who brought it modernity and daring", indicates President LREM of the National Assembly
Richard Ferrand
.
It is with emotion that I learn of the death of President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
The European ideal loses one of its founders, France, a President who brought it modernity and audacity: majority at 18, legalization of abortion ...
Respectfully, in its memory.
pic.twitter.com/bvnVVRDTNJ
- Richard Ferrand (@RichardFerrand) December 2, 2020
"His fights, sometimes against his own political family, as was the case for abortion or the majority at 18, made him a very great president", recalled
Benjamin Griveaux
.
Nicolas Sarkozy's "admiration"
On the right, we also pay tribute to this "modernizer" of the 1970s. "He is a man who has done France honor, a man for whom I have felt admiration and with whom I have always had some pleasure to debate, ”said
Nicolas Sarkozy
.
"His seven-year term is marked by a perpetual desire to move France forward with the times, taking advantage of a decomplexion in society while undergoing a major economic crisis linked to the oil shocks", wrote the mayor of Nice
Christian Estrosi
(LR ), who mourns a "wise man of the republic".
"His defeat in 1981 (against the socialist François Mitterrand Editor's note) marked for France a turning point towards decline," adds his colleague
Eric Ciotti
.
"For
Rachida Dati
, VGE represented a" certain idea of France that we miss so much today ".
pic.twitter.com/DkDhkUwCLy
- Nicolas Sarkozy (@NicolasSarkozy) December 2, 2020
Like
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
, many leaders also insist on his commitment to the Franco-German relationship and to what was then called the European Economic Community (EEC).
With VGE, “French Democracy has asserted itself as European…”, declares the former Prime Minister, “with a heavy heart”.
"Europe should be a French ambition and France a modern nation", also sums up
Michel Barnier
, another figure of the right and of European construction, now in charge of Brexit negotiations for the EU.
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Marine Le Pen
also cracked a press release in the evening.
After paying tribute to a "craftsman of new public freedoms and an ardent support for technological progress", the boss of the RN insisted on her policy on migration.
"In 2018, he confessed that his biggest mistake was to establish family reunification," she said.
Many left-wing figures also reacted, insisting for their part on social advances.
Pell-mell, we can cite those of the mayor PS
Anne Hidalgo
, who notes in passing that VGE "carried Paris in his heart", or
Yannick Jadot
and
Julien Bayou
(EELV).
“The President of the majority at 18, the decriminalization of abortion and divorce by mutual consent.
Thoughts for his loved ones, ”wrote Julien Bayou
I learn with emotion the disappearance of the former President of the Republic Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
I salute this convinced European who has worked to put our country on the path to progress.
He had Paris in his heart and always had a special interest in it.
pic.twitter.com/29wS3kpylP
- Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) December 2, 2020
Finally, note that the National Assembly observed a minute of silence during its night session.
The National Assembly observed a minute of silence in tribute to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
The former President of the Republic, who ruled France from 1974 to 1981, died Wednesday, December 2. # DirectAN pic.twitter.com/OGAiKXSMUI
- LCP (@LCP) December 2, 2020