Pahor to attend memorial ceremony for Giscard d’Estaing

Strasbourg – President Borut Pahor will attend in Strasbourg on Thursday a ceremony remembering Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who served as the president of France from 1974 to 1981. On the first anniversary of his death, Giscard d’Estaing will be remembered for his role in the creation of the European Union.

According to the president’s office, the ceremony in the European Parliament will remember his role in the Convention on the Future of Europe, which concluded its work in 2003 by drafting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

The Convention, headed until 2002 by the former French president, reached a consensus on a future thorough reform of the EU enshrined in the Treaty, which was rejected in France and the Netherlands, but important parts were included in the Lisbon Treaty.

The commemoration ceremony will be addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President David Sassoli.

The ceremony will be an opportunity for bilateral meetings, as several heads of state or government will attend, the president’s office said.

Giscard d’Estaing, who died of Covid-19 exactly a year ago, aged 94, was a convinced European who served as the president of France from 1974 to 1981. He is credited with introducing many reforms in France.

Upon his death, Pahor wrote a letter of condolences to Macron, saying that France and Europe had lost a great European and statesman who persistently advocated closer European integration and saw Europe as a modern society of progress.

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