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2005:
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A conversation with former President of France Valery...
with Valery Giscard D'Estaing on Mar 7, 2005
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- 38 min
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with Valery Giscard D'Estaing on Mar 7, 2005
Valery Giscard D’Estaing
Valéry Marie René Giscard d’Estaing is a French center-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981. He is currently the only living former French president.
D’Estaing’s tenure as President was marked by a rupture with his predecessor on social issues and by his attempts to modernize his country and his office, notably launching such far-reaching infrastructure projects as the high-speed TGV train and the turn towards reliance on nuclear power as France’s main energy source. However, the economic downturn that followed the 1973 energy crisis, increased opposition on both sides, with the unification of the left by François Mitterrand and the rise of up-and-comer Jacques Chirac, and bad public relations caused d’Estaing’s unpopularity to grow at the end of his term, and he failed to secure reelection in 1981.
He is a proponent of the United States of Europe and became involved with the European Union, most notably presiding over the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the ill-fated Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. He was elected to the French Academy and as former President, is also entitled to a seat on the Constitutional Council, although he had refused this prerogative until recently.
Source-wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val%C3%A9ry_Giscard_d’Estaing
