Death of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing: Emmanuel Macron decrees a day of national mourning
Emmanuel Macron on Thursday declared a day of national mourning next Wednesday in tribute to former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin
Text by: RFI Follow
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Emmanuel Macron on Thursday declared a day of national mourning next Wednesday in tribute to former President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, "central figure in the history of our Republic", who died Wednesday at the age of 94.
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In an address to the French, the Head of State clarified that the former president and his family did not wish, "out of
modesty
", a national tribute, unlike that which had been organized for Jacques Chirac in 2019. "
The February 2, the day of his birth, a solemn tribute will be organized at the European Parliament in Strasbourg,
”added Mr. Macron.
The Head of State specified that "
the French who so wish will be able to write a few words of tribute in our Town Halls and in Paris, at the Musée d'Orsay, this high place of culture that we owe him
".
"
As we turn, with the death of President Giscard d'Estaing, a page in the history of our country, be sure that I will do my utmost to keep this flame of progress and optimism alive with you. never ceased to animate it,
”he declared, concluding his televised address.
Read also: Death of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 3rd President of the Fifth Republic
The funeral will take place on Saturday 5 December
The funeral of “VGE” will take place on Saturday “
in the strictest family intimacy
” in Authon (Loir-et-Cher), where he owned a castle.
"
I belong to a generation which was born under his presidency and which undoubtedly did not always measure how much Valéry Giscard d'Estaing had for it to change France
", testified Emmanuel Macron, born in 1977, that is to say three years after VGE entered the Elysée Palace.
He notably cited "
the defense of women and their promotion to high responsibilities, divorce by mutual consent, civil majority at 18, voluntary termination of pregnancy
".
"
If our lives are freer, it is also to his courage and his daring that we owe it
", according to him.
The late president “
presided over a profound transformation of our country, passing from a large post-war period and the Thirty Glorious Years to times of challenges and fierce global competition.
He brought France into a social and institutional modernity but also into a Europe in full swing, in a booming globalization which was already experiencing its first imbalances,
”he added.
Recalling his action after his defeat in 1981 against François Mitterrand, Emmanuel Macron estimated that, after having "
won our votes
", Valéry Giscard d'Estaing "
ends up winning our admiration, our hearts even
".
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Emmanuel Macron
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing