Editing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (section)

==President of France==
[[File:Jimmy Carter and Giscard d'Estaing, 01-05-1978 restored.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Giscard d'Estaing (right) with US president [[Jimmy Carter]] (left) in 1978]]

In 1974, Giscard was elected [[President of France]], defeating Socialist candidate François Mitterrand by 425,000&nbsp;votes.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Koven|first1=Ronald|date=11 May 1981|title=France Elects Mitterrand With 52 Percent of Vote|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/05/11/france-elects-mitterrand-with-52-percent-of-vote/9e92953e-4a95-4bbd-8c7f-1e3a19446a73/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> At 48, he was the third youngest president in French history at the time, after [[Napoleon III|Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte]] and [[Jean Casimir-Perier]].<ref name=BBCobit/>

In his appointments, he was innovative regarding women.  He gave major cabinet positions to [[Simone Veil]] as Minister of Health and [[Françoise Giroud]] as secretary for women's affairs. Giroud worked to improve access to meaningful employment and to reconcile careers with childbearing. Veil confronted the abortion issue.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shenton|first=Gordon|year=1976|title=The Advancement of Women in Giscard d'Estaing's "Advanced Liberal Society"|journal=[[The Massachusetts Review]]|volume=17|issue=4|pages=743–762|issn=0025-4878|jstor=25088694}}</ref><ref>Frears, 1981, 150–153.</ref>

===Domestic policy===
On taking office, Giscard was quick to initiate reforms; they included increasing the minimum wage as well as family allowances and old-age pensions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gregg |first=Samuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9z0AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |title=Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and how America Can Avoid a European Future |date=2013 |publisher=Encounter Books |isbn=978-1-59403-637-8 |language=en}}</ref> He extended the right to political asylum, expanded health insurance to cover all Frenchmen, lowered the voting age to 18, and modernised the divorce law.  On 25 September 1974, Giscard summed up his goals: 
{{quote|To reform the judicial system, modernize social institutions, reduce excessive inequalities of income, develop education, liberalize repressive legislation, develop culture.<ref>Quoted in {{cite journal |mode=cs2 |author=Gordon Shenton|title=The Advancement of Women in Giscard d'Estaing's 'Advanced Liberal Society'|journal=The Massachusetts Review|year=1976|volume=17|issue=4|page=749 |jstor=25088694}}.</ref>}}

He pushed for the development of the [[TGV]] [[High-speed rail|high speed train]] network and the [[Minitel]] telephone upgrade, a precursor of the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitepages.fr/telecom-history-minitel.html |title=History of the Minitel |publisher=Whitepages.fr |access-date=20 November 2016}}</ref> He promoted [[Nuclear power in France|nuclear power]], as a way to assert French independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelocal.fr/20201203/what-valery-giscard-destaing-meant-to-france|title=From TGVs to nuclear power: What Valéry Giscard d'Estaing meant to France|publisher=The Local|language=fr|access-date=3 December 2020|date=3 December 2020}}</ref>

Economically, Giscard's presidency saw a steady rise in personal incomes, with the purchasing power of workers going up by 29% and that of old age pensioners by 65%.<ref>{{cite book|author=D. L. Hanley |author2=Miss A P Kerr |author3=N. H. Waites |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmuIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |title=Contemporary France: Politics and Society Since 1945 |via=Google Books |year=2005 | publisher=Routledge |access-date=20 November 2016|isbn = 978-1-134-97423-8}}</ref>

The great crisis that overwhelmed his term was a worldwide economic crisis based on rapidly rising oil prices. He turned to Prime Minister [[Raymond Barre]] in 1976, who advocated numerous complex, strict policies ("Barre Plans"). The first Barre plan emerged on 22 September 1976, with a priority to stop inflation. It included a 3-month price freeze; a reduction in the value added tax; wage controls; salary controls; a reduction of the growth in the money supply; and increases in the income tax, automobile taxes, luxury taxes and bank rates.  There were measures to restore the trade balance, and support the growth of the economy and employment. Oil imports, whose price had shot up, were limited. There was special aid to exports, and an action fund was set up to aid industries. There was increased financial aid to farmers, who were suffering from a drought, and for social security. The package was not very popular, but was pursued with vigor.<ref>J.R. Frears, ''France in the Giscard Presidency'' (1981) p. 135.</ref>

Giscard initially tried to project a less monarchical image than had been the case for past French presidents.<ref name=TTO/> He took a ride on the [[Paris Métro|Métro]], ate monthly dinners with ordinary Frenchmen, and even invited garbage men from Paris to have breakfast with him in the [[Élysée Palace]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/europe-paris-coronavirus-pandemic-france-angela-merkel-ab6d66d7891fd86cfef381bb3d998be4|title=Late French ex-president Giscard helped reshape Europe|work=[[Associated Press]]|date=3 December 2020}}</ref> However, when he learned that most Frenchmen were somewhat cool to this display of informality, Giscard became so aloof and distant that his opponents frequently attacked him as being too far removed from ordinary citizens.<ref>{{cite book|title=The World Today 2013: Western Europe|last=Thompson|first=Wayne C.|publisher=Stryker-Post Publications|location=Lanham, Maryland|date=2013|isbn=978-1-4758-0505-5}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2020}}

In domestic policy, Giscard's reforms worried the conservative electorate and the [[Gaullism|Gaullist]] party, especially the law by [[Simone Veil]] legalising abortion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/world/europe/simone-veil-dead.html|title=Simone Viel, Ex-Minister Who Wrote France's Abortion Laws, Dies at 89|work=The New York Times|date=30 June 2017}}</ref> Although he said he had "deep aversion against capital punishment", Giscard claimed in his 1974 campaign that he would apply the death penalty to people committing the most heinous crimes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=05ATAAAAIBAJ&pg=5404,5279889|title=Ocala Star-Banner – Google News Archive Search}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He did not commute three of the death sentences that he had to decide upon during his presidency. France under his administration was thus [[Capital punishment in France|the last country]] in the European Community to apply the death penalty, and until the [[Gary Gilmore|resumption of executions in the United States]] in 1977, the only one in the Western world. The [[Hamida Djandoubi|last death sentence]], bearing Giscard's signature, was executed in September 1977, the [[Philippe Maurice|last ratified]] by the [[Court of Cassation]] in March 1981, but rescinded by presidential pardon after Giscard's defeat in the presidential election in May.<ref name=BBCobit/><ref name=TGO/>

A rivalry arose with his Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, who resigned in 1976.<ref name=Chirac>{{cite news|url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201202-val%C3%A9ry-giscard-d-estaing-modernist-french-president-dies-at-94|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 'reformist' French president, dies at 94|date=2 December 2020|access-date=5 December 2020|publisher=[[France 24]]}}</ref> [[Raymond Barre]], called the "best economist in France" at the time, succeeded him.<ref name=BBCobit/>

Unexpectedly, the right-wing coalition won the [[1978 French legislative election|1978 legislative election]].<ref name=BBCobit/> Nevertheless, relations with Chirac, who had founded the [[Gaullist Party|Rally for the Republic]] (RPR), became more tense.<ref name=Chirac /> Giscard reacted by founding a centre-right confederation, the [[Union for French Democracy]] (UDF).<ref name=WPO/>

===Foreign policy===
[[File:Carter guadeloupe cropped.png|thumb|Giscard d'Estaing with German chancellor [[Helmut Schmidt]] (left), US president [[Jimmy Carter]] (second from left) and British prime minister [[James Callaghan]] (right) at the [[Guadeloupe Conference]] in 1979]]

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was a close friend of West German chancellor [[Helmut Schmidt]] and together they persuaded smaller European states to hold regular summit meetings, and set up the [[European Monetary System]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Story|first=Jonathan|date=September 1988|title=The Launching of the EMS: An Analysis of Change in Foreign Economic Policy|journal=[[Political Studies (journal)|Political Studies]]|language=en|volume=36|issue=3|pages=397–412|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9248.1988.tb00238.x|s2cid=145630563|issn=0032-3217}}</ref> They induced the Soviet Union to establish a degree of liberalisation through the [[Helsinki Accords]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Willsher|first1=Kim|date=2020-12-03|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing obituary|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/valery-giscard-destaing-obituary|access-date=2020-12-06|work=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref>

He promoted the creation of the [[European Council]] at the Paris Summit in December 1974. In 1975, he invited the heads of government from West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States to a summit in [[Rambouillet]], to form the [[Group of Seven|Group of Six]] major economic powers (now the G7, including Canada and the European Union).<ref>Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol, "Filling the EEC leadership vacuum? The creation of the European Council in 1974", ''Cold War History'' 10.3 (2010): 315-339.</ref>

In 1975, Giscard pressured the future King of Spain [[Juan Carlos I]] to leave Chilean dictator [[Augusto Pinochet]] out of his coronation by stating that if Pinochet attended he would not.<ref name=TTO/> Although France received many Chilean political refugees, Giscard d'Estaing's government secretly collaborated with [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|Pinochet's]] and [[National Reorganization Process|Videla's junta]]s as shown by journalist [[Marie-Monique Robin]].<ref>[http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/article/div/livres/escadrons_mort_conclusion.htm Conclusion] of [[Marie-Monique Robin]]'s ''Escadrons de la mort, l'école française'' {{in lang|fr}}/ [http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/2926696/ Watch here film documentary] (French, English, Spanish)</ref>

Giscard d'Estaing sought to improve Franco-Romanian ties and in 1979 visited [[Bucharest]]. In 1980 he received Romanian president [[Nicolae Ceaucescu]] as a guest in Paris.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abraham |first1=Florin |title=Romania Since the Second World War A Political, Social and Economic History |date=2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=60}}</ref>

====Africa====
Giscard continued de Gaulle's [[Françafrique|African policy]], and sought to maintain good relations with Middle East Muslim countries so that they would continue delivering oil to France.<ref>{{cite web |last=Girardet |first=Edward |title=Giscard's pro-Arab tilt splits French Jewish community |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0407/040744.html |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=7 April 1980 |access-date=10 August 2023}}</ref> Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Cameroon were the largest and most reliable African allies, and received most of the investments.<ref> Frears, John R., ''France in the Giscard Presidency'' (1981) pp. 109–127.</ref> In 1977, in [[Opération Lamantin]], he ordered fighter jets to deploy in [[Mauritania]] and suppress the [[Polisario Front|Polisario]] guerrillas fighting against the Mauritanian government.<ref name=NYT1979>{{cite web |title=France Reinforces Garrison in Senegal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/03/archives/france-reinforces-garrison-in-senegal-effort-intended-to-help-free.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=3 November 1977}}</ref>

The most important advisor on African affairs during the Giscard era was [[René Journiac]], successor of [[Jacques Foccart]] at the Secretariat for African and Malagasy Affairs, which was renamed to the "{{ill|African Department|fr|Cellule africaine de l'Élysée}}" (''Cellule africaine''). Journiac largely continued Foccart's approach of maintaining French influence in its [[French colonial empire|former colonies]] through a web of personal relationships with African [[Political strongman|strongmen]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=de La Guérivière |first=Jean |title=La mort de M. René Journiac |website=[[Le Monde]] |date=8 February 1980 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1980/02/08/la-mort-de-m-rene-journiac_2813720_1819218.html |access-date=14 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Servenay |first=David |date=2023 |editor-last1=Borrel |editor-first1=Thomas |editor-last2=Boukari-Yabara |editor-first2=Amzat |editor-last3=Collombat |editor-first3=Benoît |editor-last4=Deltombe |editor-first4=Thomas |title=Une histoire de la Françafrique: L'empire qui ne veut pas mourir |publisher=[[Éditions du Seuil|Seuil]] |pages=504-505 |chapter=Foccart, Marenches, Journiac : trois « crocodiles » dans le marigot du renseignement franco-africain |isbn=9782757897751}}</ref> In 1977, documents forgotten by the [[mercenary]] [[Bob Denard]] during [[1977 Benin coup attempt|a coup attempt]] in [[Benin]] suggested that Denard's group had received support from official channels, namely through Journiac.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bat |first=Jean-Pierre |date=2016 |title=Le secteur N (Afrique) et la fin de la Guerre froide |url=https://shs-cairn-info.acces.bibl.ulaval.ca/revue-relations-internationales-2016-1-page-43 |journal=Relations internationales |volume=165 |issue=1 |pages=43-56 |doi=10.3917/ri.165.0043 |access-date=14 February 2025}}</ref>

Most controversial was Giscard's involvement with the regime of [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]] in the [[Central African Empire|Central African Republic]].<ref name=RFI>{{cite web|url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20201203-mixed-memories-of-val%C3%A9ry-giscard-d-estaing-france-s-monsieur-afrique|title=Mixed memories of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, France's 'Monsieur Afrique'|date=3 December 2020 |publisher=Radio France Internationale|access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> Giscard was initially a friend of Bokassa, and supplied the regime.<ref name=RFI/> The growing unpopularity of that government led Giscard to begin distancing himself from Bokassa.<ref name=RFI/> In 1979's [[Operation Caban]], French troops helped drive Bokassa out of power and restore former president [[David Dacko]] to power.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Richard |last2=Fandos-Rius |first2=Juan |title=Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSxIDAAAQBAJ&q=Giscard++Bokassa+David+Dacko&pg=PA129 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=27 May 2016 |isbn=978-0-8108-7992-8}}</ref> This action was also controversial, particularly given that Dacko was Bokassa's cousin and had appointed Bokassa as head of the military; and unrest continued in the Central African Republic, leading to [[1981 Central African Republic coup d'état|Dacko being overthrown in another coup in 1981]].<ref name=RFI/><ref name=BBCobit/>

The [[Diamonds Affair]], known in France as ''l'affaire des diamants'', was a major political scandal in the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]]. In 1973, while [[Ministry of Economics and Finance (France)|Minister of Finance]], Giscard d'Estaing was given a number of diamonds by Bokassa. The affair was unveiled by the satirical newspaper ''[[Le Canard Enchaîné]]'' on 10 October 1979, towards the end of Giscard's presidency.

In order to defend himself, Giscard d'Estaing claimed to have sold the diamonds and donated the proceeds to the [[Central African Red Cross Society|Central African Red Cross]]. He expected CARC authorities to confirm the story. However, the head of the local Red Cross society, [[Jeanne-Marie Ruth-Rolland]], publicly denied the French claims. Ruth-Rolland was quickly dismissed from her post in what she described as a ''"coup de force"'' by Dacko.<ref name="Dictionary2">{{cite book |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Richard |last2=Fandos-Rius |first2=Juan |title=Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, MD |edition=new |date=2016 |pages=550–551 |isbn=978-0-8108-7991-1}}</ref> The saga contributed to Giscard losing his [[1981 French presidential election|1981 reelection bid]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The diamond scandal that helped bring down France's Giscard |url=https://news.yahoo.com/diamond-scandal-helped-bring-down-162628468.html |publisher=Yahoo! News}}</ref>

====Soviet Union====
Giscard d'Estaing fancied himself a peace-maker with the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet Union and their embroilment in Afghanistan]]. At their summit in May 1980, he proposed an arrangement that would see [[Leonid Brezhnev]] partially withdraw his forces and thought the latter had agreed, only to be humiliated in front of his G7 partners when Brezhnev fooled him with a lie. His Socialist rival, [[François Mitterrand]], acidly observed in the [[Assemblée Nationale]] that he was the "petit télégraphiste de Varsovie" ("little telegraph operator from Warsaw").<ref name="branda23">{{cite news |last1=Branda |first1=Pierre |title="L'histoire des relations franco-russes aurait dû nous enseigner la prudence" |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/histoire/l-histoire-des-relations-franco-russes-aurait-du-nous-enseigner-la-prudence-20230330 |publisher=Le Figaro |date=30 March 2023}}</ref>

===1981 presidential election===
In the [[1981 French presidential election|1981 presidential election]], Giscard took a severe blow to his support when Chirac ran against him in the [[Two-round system|first round]].<ref name=NYTobit/> Chirac finished third and refused to recommend that his supporters back Giscard in the runoff, though he declared that he himself would vote for Giscard. Giscard lost to Mitterrand by 3 points in the runoff<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Valery-Giscard-dEstaing|title=Valery Giscard d'Estaing {{!}} president of France|work=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=10 November 2017}}</ref> and blamed Chirac for his defeat thereafter.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/11/world/mitterrand-beats-giscard-socialist-victory-reverses-trend-of-23-years-in-france.html|title=Mitterrand Beats Giscard; Socialist Victory Reverses Trend of 23 Years in France|last1=Eder|first1=Richard|date=11 May 1981|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=10 November 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In later years, it was widely said that Giscard loathed Chirac;<ref>{{Cite news|last=Van Renterghem|first=Marion|date=1 October 2019|title=Chirac delivered little and left office under a cloud. Why does France now love him?|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/01/france-jacques-chirac-death-politics|access-date=3 December 2020|work=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref> certainly on many occasions Giscard criticised Chirac's policies despite supporting Chirac's governing coalition.<ref name=Chirac />

While campaigning for the 1981 French election, Giscard was the target of an [[1981 Ajaccio airport bombing|attempted assassination at Ajaccio airport]] on 16 April 1981. The attack was carried out by the Gravona brigade of the [[National Liberation Front of Corsica (1976-1990)|National Liberation Front of Corsica]] (FLNC). The FLNC had recently declared a ceasefire on 1 April 1981 as not to hinder the left in the upcoming elections, but disdain for Giscard and the right was still present. The Gravona brigade, led by [[François Santoni]], placed two time bombs in the airport terminal in an area where Giscard was predicted to enter. The bombs went off two minutes after he entered the terminal, though he never entered the half of the building where the bombs were stored, and made it out unharmed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-20 |title=17 avril 1981, aéroport d'Ajaccio, une bombe contre le Président de la République. |url=https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/corse/17-avril-1981-aeroport-d-ajaccio-une-bombe-contre-le-president-de-la-republique-2870630.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=France 3 Corse ViaStella |language=fr-FR}}</ref> In a speech he delivered right after the attack, he condemned the action, calling it a "cowardly" attack and stated that it was an "attitude unworthy of Corsica."<ref>{{Cite web |date=1981-04-16 |title=Discours de M. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing à Ajaccio, lors de la campagne électorale pour l'élection présidentielle, jeudi 16 avril 1981. |url=https://www.elysee.fr/valery-giscard-d-estaing/1981/04/16/discours-de-m-valery-giscard-destaing-a-ajaccio-lors-de-la-campagne-electorale-pour-lelection-presidentielle-jeudi-16-avril-1981 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=elysee.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

Giscard's farewell speech as president became a legendary moment in French television. After delivering a solemn seven-minute address, he paused and bade a pronounced "[[Wiktionary:au revoir#French|Au revoir]]" before walking out as "[[La Marseillase]]" was played, leaving audiences to view his empty desk for the duration of the song.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 December 2020 |title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 'reformist' French president, dies at 94 |url=https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201202-val%C3%A9ry-giscard-d-estaing-modernist-french-president-dies-at-94 |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=[[France 24]] |language=en}}</ref>