Giscard d’Estaing: a tribute from Sassoli, Michel and Von der Leyen. “A great European who will keep inspiring us”

“With the loss of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, it is a staunch European who is leaving us”. David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, commemorates the former president of the French Republic (Koblenz, 2 February 1926 – Authon, 2 December 2020), who died yesterday, who then led the Convention on the Future of Europe, entrusted between 2001 and 2003 with drawing up the draft of the future Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, signed in Rome in October 2004 and then rejected by a referendum one year later, precisely in France and in the Netherlands. Giscard d’Estaing “spent his life – Sassoli states – making Europe a key player on the international scene”. Charles Michel, president of the European Council, defines Giscard d’Estaing as a “moderniser of France”; along with the German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, whom he was a friend of, “they accomplished their dream of having a more integrated Europe”. In addition, “he created the European Council, which paved the way to the monetary union and therefore to the euro”. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, pays tribute to Valéry Giscard’Estaing by stating: “In his heart, the fates of France and Europe were woven together. I express my condolences to the French population. Today, we mourn a great European who will keep inspiring us”.
Valentina Bombelli