FRANCE 24 looks at the key dates in the life of former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who died Wednesday, aged 94, of complications linked to Covid-19.
February 2, 1926: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is born in Koblenz, Germany.
1944: Enters the École Polytechnique in Paris, graduating in 1951 from the respected École Nationale d'Administration (ENA).
1962-1966: Finance minister in the successive cabinets of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou (during the presidency of Charles de Gaulle).
1966: Establishes the Fédération Nationale des Républicains Indépendants, which in 1977 becomes the centre-right Parti Républicain.
1969-1974: Finance minister in the successive governments of prime ministers Jacques Chaban-Delmas and Pierre Messmer (during the Pompidou presidency).
May 19, 1974: Giscard d’Estaing is elected president with 50.8 percent of the vote against 49.2 percent for the Socialist François Mitterrand.
1978: The Union pour la démocratie française (UDF) party, made up of disparate democratic and centre-right parties, is formed in support of Giscard d’Estaing. He is the group's leader from 1986 to 1996.
May 10, 1981: Giscard d’Estaing loses the presidential election with 48.2 percent of the vote to Mitterand's 51.7 percent.
1989-1993: Serves as a European MP.
2001: Giscard d’Estaing is selected by European Union leaders to lead work on an EU constitutional treaty. The draft is rejected in 2005 by French and Dutch voters.
2003: Becomes the first former head of state to be named to the elite Académie Française.
2004: Valéry Giscard d’Estaing ends his active political career after losing his seat as a parliamentarian but becomes a member of France's Constitutional Council.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
