It is, in the words of Emmanuel Macron, "a central figure in the history of our Republic" who left this Wednesday evening.
And from left to right, passing - of course - through the center or European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a shower of tributes followed the announcement of the death of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at the age of 94 years old.
“He thought his record had been a bit forgotten.
Where he is, he must find that things have changed a lot.
He would have liked what we heard, the reminder of his roots in Auvergne, of the great modernizer, of the great European, which was certainly the main thing for him, ”confides Dominique Bussereau, president of the Jeunes giscardiens between 1974 and 1977.
Thursday evening, in his speech, Emmanuel Macron greeted a Head of State with “an unprecedented modernization project”, committed “to give Europe the ideal and the will that it has often lacked”.
"I belong to a generation which was born under his presidency and which undoubtedly has not always understood how much Valéry Giscard d'Estaing had for it to change France", insists the Head of State.
VIDEO. Death of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing: a day of national mourning decreed Wednesday, December 9
From his seven-year term, the second half of which was weighed down by the crisis born of the oil shocks and the suspicion of business (that of the “Bokassa diamonds” in particular), his distant successor notably retained “the defense of women and their promotion to high positions. responsibilities, divorce by mutual consent, civil majority at 18, voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion).
If our lives are freer, it is also to his courage and daring that we owe it.
"A president of whom he says, watermark of his intervention, that he" lives our lives today probably even more than we think ".
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“Out of modesty” - Macron, again - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing did not want a national tribute to the Invalides.
His funeral will be held this Saturday in Authon (Loir-et-Cher) "in the strictest privacy".
"It's a bit the same approach as General de Gaulle, a form of restraint and discretion, and a very strong attachment to the family", decrypts Dominique Bussereau.
According to a relative, VGE did not want, either, that a comparison could be made with his rival Jacques Chirac and would have meant it after the ceremonies organized for the latter last year, of which he had secretly judged the excessive pomp.
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A day of national mourning will, however, be observed on Wednesday 9 December.
And on February 2, the day of his birth, a tribute will be organized at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin).
It will also be possible for the French to write a few words in town halls and at the Musée d'Orsay.
On the right, Rachida Dati and Valérie Pécresse even call for giving its name to “this high place of culture that we owe it”, in Macron's words.
Nothing is excluded concerning what would restore a form of balance with Jacques Chirac, who gave his to that of the quai Branly.