A year after his death, Emmanuel Macron and the EU pay tribute to the former president

A year ago to the day, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing passed away at the age of 94. To celebrate the memory of this “great European”, French President Emmanuel Macron and EU leaders are expected this Thursday at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The ceremony, initially scheduled for the anniversary of his birth, February 2, was delayed by ten months due to the health situation. It will therefore finally take place a year after the death of the former president as a result of the Covid-19.

Franco-German friendship celebrated

At 11 a.m., in the hemicycle of the European Parliament, the leaders of the three European institutions – the President of the Parliament David Sassoli, the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel – will take turns speaking . Then, celebrating the Franco-German friendship, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Emmanuel Macron will speak, who will close this ceremony in which the wife of the former president, Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing, her children and grandchildren, but also the former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Portuguese Presidents Marcela Rebelo de Sousa, Bulgarian Roumen Radev and Slovenian Borut Pahor are also expected to attend. The tribute to the European Parliament will be followed by a mass, open to the public, in his memory in Strasbourg Cathedral at 3 p.m.

Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1993, after his presidential mandate, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is considered one of the builders of Europe, having worked for essential stages of its construction such as the creation of the European Council, the election of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, the premises of monetary union or even the founding of the European Space Agency, as recalled by the Elysee. From 2001, “VGE” chaired the Convention on the Future of Europe, initiating debates and reflections on the evolution of the Union.

France will take over the presidency of Europe

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing having “participated in the liberation of Alsace, which he crossed in a tank with the 1st army of General de Lattre de Tassigny”, it is “also for that that it is important that the European tribute takes place in Strasbourg and not in Brussels ”, explained to the Latest News from Alsace his son Louis, recalling that the former president “was very attached to the maintenance of the European Parliament in Strasbourg”.

Less than a month from the start of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, Emmanuel Macron will take advantage of this visit to meet, at the end of the ceremony, the leaders of the political groups of the European Parliament, in order to discuss his priorities for this semester of rotating presidency.

source site