Rant: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's crushing blow
3 Jun 2005 by Paul Davies
Back in the late seventies, the then President of France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was doing rather well for himself. He had successfully reformed his country, legalising abortion, lowering the voting age and combating segregation in schools.However, it didn't last long. VGE was massacred in the 1981 French presidential elections following an economic slump and allegations that he had taken a diamond-encrusted bribe from the leader of the Central African Republic.
Unfortunately for him and two generations of Europeans, the ignominy of his defeat appeared to send him insane. Rather than slink off into a corner of Bordeaux and pickle his organs in fine wine, he hung around, carving out a niche for himself as Europe's very own deluded grumpy old man. Think an exaggerated, vastly more experienced and French version of Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Twenty-four years on, and M. Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the European Constitution, has been beaten again. And this time it was personal.
VGE was not only a key spokesman for the 'oui' camp, he was the chief figurehead of the 'non' camp too – posters urging the French people to say no to the 'Constitution a la d'Estaing' were plastered all over Paris.
M. Giscard d'Estaing, you see, is the EU in (barely) human form: despite all the evidence to the contrary, he thinks he rules the world; he gobbles up any scrap of power he can, however trivial; he is oblivious to any hint of error; he is unpopular with all who get to know him and he is as remote and unaccountable as an Enron executive.
It's not just that he's egotistical or even far too retarded to be given such responsibility – much as one might hope for them, no-one really expects intelligence or competence from their leaders anymore – two qualities which have long been shunted off the list of top leadership skills by spin and celebrity chums. No, it's that even in an arena adumbrated by the 'charm' of Berlusconi, the dogmatic federalist ideas of Gerhard Schröder and the countless ludicrous MEP expense account claims, M. d'Estaing stands out as a true paragon of incompetence, irresponsibility and arrogance.
When discussions over the draft constitution were looking ropey, and Poland and Spain were being stubborn over voting rights, M. d'Estaing, who wasn't officially supposed to be involved at the time, proudly announced to the media that he had sorted everything out. The then leaders of the EU were particularly taken aback, especially as they still had to iron out the problems themselves a couple of weeks later.
The most puzzling aspect of M. d'Estaing's career is that he has got away with so much for so long – final proof, if it were needed, of the remoteness that permeates every inch of Brussels.
This week's crushing blow, however, pushed a pin into his inflated head, a head that until recently was so far in the clouds that it orbited the Earth, surveying all he believed he had created and, indeed, ruled over. One can't help but think that, despite the temporary scrapping of the treaty and being well over 70, he probably still expects one day to be crowned Emperor of Europe.
However, since the French buried the constitution and the Dutch danced on its grave, VGE has been unusually quiet. We can but hope he stays that way.
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