[DW] Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing died on Wednesday at age 94, due to complications arising from COVID-19.He ruled France from 1974 to 1981, and was hospitalized several times last month due to heart problems. Giscard d'Estaing died "surrounded by his family" at his estate, according to Agence France-Presse.
He was known for his efforts to modernize French society, including allowing divorce by mutual consent, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, and legalizing abortion.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing also campaigned for the unification of Europe. He worked together with former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt for a close Franco-German friendship. Together, they laid the foundation for the common European currency, the Euro.
The G7 meetings of western heads of state are also based on his initiative.
Affiliated with the Republican Independents, d'Estaing was elected to rule France at 48, and came into power after Gaullist rule. He lost his re-election bid to socialist Francois Mitterrand.
Giscard received many awards for his services to European unity. The honorary citizen of his birthplace Koblenz received the Aachen Charlemagne Prize [Ger. Karlspreis] as well as the Westphalian Peace Prize. In December 2003, the Academie Francaise accepted him into the "Series of Immortals".
France has seen 2,244,635, cases of coronavirus so far, and is the fifth worst-affected nation in the world. The country is in the process of loosening its second national lockdown.
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