Editing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (section)

==European activities==
[[File:EPP 2004 Poettering - d'Estaing - Chabert.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Giscard d'Estaing (centre) at the [[European People's Party#Congress|EPP Congress]] in Brussels, 2004]]

Throughout his political career, Giscard was a proponent of a greater amount of [[European integration]] in the [[European Economic Community|European Community]] (in what would become the European Union).<ref name=NYTobit/> In 1978, he was for this reason the obvious target of [[Jacques Chirac]]'s [[Call of Cochin]], denouncing the "party of the foreigners".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.20minutes.fr/politique/365864-20091124-parti-etranger-le-bruit-odeur-precedents-derapages-jacques-chirac |title=Le "parti de l'étranger" et "le bruit et l'odeur", les précédents dérapages de Jacques Chirac |work=20 Minutes |date=24 November 2009 |access-date=20 November 2016}}</ref>

From 1989 to 1993, Giscard served as a [[member of the European Parliament]].<ref name=MEP/> From 1989 to 1991, he was also chairman of the [[European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (European Parliament group)|Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group]].<ref name=MEP>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/alphaOrder/view.do?language=EN&id=1030 |title=List of all current and former Members |publisher=European Parliament |access-date=20 November 2016}}</ref>

From 2001 to 2004, he served as president of the [[Convention on the Future of Europe]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cvce.eu/en/histoire-orale/unit-content/-/unit/2d4abfa8-10c0-484f-bc8c-b625ea0de121/32ad31cf-c727-422c-9275-1d1d704849c0/Resources|title=GISCARD D'ESTAING (Valéry)|publisher=CVCE.edu|access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> On 29 October 2004, the [[Council of the European Union|heads of government of the European Union]] gathered in Rome, approved and signed the [[European Constitution]] based on a draft strongly influenced by Giscard's work at the convention.<ref>{{cite web|author=Sabine Verhest |url=http://www.lalibre.be/actu/international/valery-giscard-d-estaing-l-europeen-51b87e7fe4b0de6db9a8c8aa |title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing l'Européen |publisher=La Libre.be |date=17 June 2003 |access-date=20 November 2016}}</ref> Although the Constitution [[2005 French European Constitution referendum|was rejected by French voters in May 2005]], Giscard continued to actively lobby for its passage in other EU states.<ref name=lisbon/>

Giscard d'Estaing attracted international attention at the time of the [[Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008|June 2008 Irish vote]] on the [[Treaty of Lisbon|Lisbon Treaty]].<ref name=lisbon>{{cite web|url=https://euobserver.com/institutional/25052|title=Lisbon Treaty made to avoid referendum, says Giscard|work=EUobserver|date=29 October 2007 |access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> In an article for ''[[Le Monde]]'' in June 2007, published in English translation by ''[[The Irish Times]]'', he said that a "divide and ratify" approach, whereby "public opinion would be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals we dare not present to them directly", would be unworthy and would reinforce the idea that the construction of Europe was being organised behind the public's backs by lawyers and diplomats;<ref name=lemonde2007>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2007/06/14/le-traite-simplifie-oui-mutile-non-par-valery-giscard-d-estaing_923139_3232.html |title="Le Traité simplifié, oui, mutilé, non", par Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |work=Le Monde |date=14 June 2007 |access-date=20 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Giscard d'Estaing |first1=Valéry |title=Yes to simplified treaty, No to a mutilated text |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/yes-to-simplified-treaty-no-to-a-mutilated-text-1.1211261 |newspaper=The Irish Times |access-date=3 December 2020 |date=20 June 2007}}</ref> the quotation was taken out of context by prominent supporters of a "no" vote and distorted to give the impression that Giscard was advocating such a deception, instead of repudiating it.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Tony |title="Saying No". An Analysis of the Irish Opposition to the Lisbon Treaty |url=http://www.iiea.com/documents/Saying%20No-publication-IIEA-Tony%20Brown.pdf |website=Institute of International and European Affairs |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306080810/http://www.iiea.com/documents/Saying%20No-publication-IIEA-Tony%20Brown.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Roche regrets 'distortion' of Giscard quote on Lisbon |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/roche-regrets-distortion-of-giscard-quote-on-lisbon-1.836056 |access-date=3 December 2020 |publisher=The irish Times |date=13 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Lisbon No campaign was 'dishonest' in misusing his quote, says Giscard |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/lisbon-no-campaign-was-dishonest-in-misusing-his-quote-says-giscard-1.1272035 |access-date=3 December 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=26 June 2008}}</ref>

In 2008, he became the honorary president of the [[Atomium - European Institute for Science, Media and Democracy|Atomium - European Institute for Science and Democracy]].<ref name=atom>{{cite web|url=https://www.eismd.eu/valery-giscard-destaing-honorary-president-of-atomium-eismd/|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Honorary President of Atomium-EISMD|publisher=EISMD.eu|access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> On 27 November 2009, Giscard publicly launched the institute during its first conference, held at the European Parliament,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://atomiumculture.eu/node/261|title=The Honorary President of Atomium Culture Valéry Giscard d'Estaing speaks at the public launch and first conference, Atomium Culture|publisher=Atomiumculture.eu|access-date=3 June 2011}}</ref> declaring: "European intelligence could be at the very root of the identity of the European people."<ref>{{cite web|author=Von Joachim Müller-Jung|url=https://www.faz.net/s/RubCEA270411FF84533BCAF137CD8BFB763/Doc~E0C76C99CFA4D44B3BE5DD0FBEEF7F179~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html|title=Atomium Culture: Bienenstock der Intelligenz – Atomium Culture – Wissen|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|date=27 November 2009|access-date=3 June 2011}}</ref> A few days before he had signed, together with the President of the institute  [[Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini]], the [[Atomium - European Institute for Science, Media and Democracy|European Manifesto of Atomium]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eismd.eu/highlights-of-the-public-launch-and-first-conference-of-atomium-eismd/|title=Highlights of the Public Launch and First Conference of Atomium-EISMD|publisher=EISMD.eu|access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref>