His funeral will be an intimate family affair, the Valery Giscard d'Estaing Foundation said on Twitter. Giscard was elected president in 1974 at the age of 48 to become France's youngest postwar leader. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy said Giscard had "worked his whole life to reinforce relations between European nations." Michel Barnier, a Frenchman and lead EU negotiator in talks over Europe's future relationship with Britain, said: "For Valery Giscard d'Estaing, Europe needed to be a French ambition and France a modern nation. Giscard served one term as president, losing his re-election bid to Socialist Francois Mitterrand in the aftermath of the global economic downturn of the 1970s.

Source: bd News24 December 03, 2020 00:22 UTC