Louis Giscard d'Estaing, 64, regional councillor of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and mayor of Chamalières (Puy-de-Dôme), inaugurated in November 2021, an avenue Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing. It was preceded by the city of Amiens (Somme), on February 2, 2021.
Last year, on 9 May 2022, on Europe Day, a square in Nîmes (Gard) and a boulevard in Villeneuve-Loubet (Alpes-Maritimes) and then in Évry (Essonne), the Boulevard de l'Europe - Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing were inaugurated. "But having a Quai Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing, in Paris, will be particularly symbolic of the tribute paid to the former President of the Republic, visionary and modernizer of the France," says his son.
Present at the rostrum of the Council of Paris alongside Anne Hidalgo on March 14, 2023, during this announcement, Louis Giscard d'Estaing will not miss the inauguration of the quay this Tuesday by the mayor.
Paris, 14 March 2023. Louis Giscard d'Estaing, son of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the former President of the Republic, at the Council of Paris. LP / Olivier Corsan
Your father Valéry Giscard d'Estaing died on December 2, 2020 and this Tuesday, May 9, 2023, a quay is inaugurated in his name. Two and a half years after his death, and a year before the fiftieth anniversary of his election to the presidency of the Republic, is it good timing?
LOUIS GISCARD D'ESTAING. More than the timing, what is important is that a little more than two years after his death, the City of Paris honors his memory and that of his political action with a particularly symbolic place. On Europe Day, this will connect with everything he has done for France and Europe.
Paris created, over time, the Quays of the Presidents. Will Valéry Giscard d'Estaing be in good company with Jacques Chirac and François Mitterrand?
That the capital city pays tribute to the former presidents of the Fifth Republic is a clearly established tradition. Whether it's in the heart of the city, along the Seine, is a great idea. I welcome this initiative, which is highly symbolic in more ways than one. It is an honour for my whole family to have this Quai Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing.
Read alsoParis: Quai Giscard-d'Estaing, Georges-Pompidou way... Having a street named after you, how does it work?
Between the rue du Bac and the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor footbridge, just at the Musée d'Orsay and opposite the Louvre... Could there be a better address?
I think it corresponds to a place in Paris that has so many links with the action, the personal and political journey of my father, that the City made the right choice. We see the Louvre diagonally — the place where he actively participated in the good management of public finances and where he learned that he had been elected in the famous sequence of Raymond Depardon's film. From the end of the Quai Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing and the corner of the Pont Royal, you can see the dome of the Académie française and at the other end, you arrive at the Léopold-Sédar-Senghor footbridge, which it succeeded to the chair of the Académie de France. In between, you have three buildings: the Caisse des Dépôts, symbol of the stability of public finances, the Musée d'Orsay, which he helped to create, and finally, the Museum of the Legion of Honour.
For François Mitterrand, the pyramid of the Louvre, while there is already the François-Mitterrand library, and an RER station... For Jacques Chirac, the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac... When will the Musée d'Orsay - Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing be built?
For the moment, it has been decided by decree that the public establishment that includes the Musée d'Orsay and the Orangerie is also called Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing. The second decision, which is the responsibility of the Musée d'Orsay, is that the esplanade in front of the museum entrance will also be called Esplanade Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing. The last step, which we want, which has not yet been recorded, would be for the Musée d'Orsay to take the name of Musée d'Orsay - Valéry-Giscard-d'Estaing. This is a decision that depends on the museum's board of directors. But, already, the name of the founder of this museum will completely surround the site. The link will be very clearly established in many minds.
