Ex-French president Giscard d’Estaing dies of Covid at 94

Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, a leading advocate of European integration who led his country into a new modern era, has died of Covid-19, his family said. He was 94. Giscard died late Wednesday "surrounded by his family" at the family home in the Loire region. He became the 20th century's youngest president at 48 when in 1974 he beat his Socialist rival Francois Mitterrand, to whom he then lost after his seven-year term in 1981 in a failed re-election bid. In France, he is remembered for his radical reform drive, which included the legalisation of abortion, the liberalisation of divorce and the lowering of the voting age to 18. In Europe, he helped drive moves towards a monetary union.

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