(left) in 1978 In 1974, Giscard was elected
President of France, defeating Socialist candidate François Mitterrand by 425,000 votes. At 48, he was the third youngest president in French history at the time, after
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte and
Jean Casimir-Perier.
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. 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: He pushed for the development of the
TGV high speed train network and the
Minitel telephone upgrade, a precursor of the Internet. He promoted
nuclear power, as a way to assert French independence, especially so after the Iranian Revolution and the following
rise in the prices of oil. 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%. 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. Giscard initially tried to project a less monarchical image than had been the case for past French presidents. 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. In domestic policy, Giscard's reforms worried the conservative electorate and the
Gaullist party, especially the law by
Simone Veil legalising abortion. 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. He did not commute three of the death sentences that he had to decide upon during his presidency. France under his administration was thus
the last country in the European Community to apply the death penalty, and until the
resumption of executions in the United States in 1977, the only one in the Western world. The
last death sentence, bearing Giscard's signature, was executed in September 1977, the
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.
Raymond Barre, called the "best economist in France" at the time, succeeded him. They induced the Soviet Union to establish a degree of liberalisation through the
Helsinki Accords. 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 Six major economic powers (now the G7, including Canada and the European Union). 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. 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.
Africa Giscard continued de Gaulle's
African policy, and sought to maintain good relations with Middle East Muslim countries so that they would continue delivering oil to France. Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Cameroon were the largest and most reliable African allies, and received most of the investments. In 1977, in
Opération Lamantin, he ordered fighter jets to deploy in
Mauritania and suppress the
Polisario guerrillas fighting against the Mauritanian government. 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 "" (
Cellule africaine). Journiac largely continued Foccart's approach of maintaining French influence in its
former colonies through a web of personal relationships with African
strongmen. In 1977, documents forgotten by the
mercenary Bob Denard during
a coup attempt in
Benin suggested that Denard's group had received support from official channels, namely through Journiac. Most controversial was Giscard's involvement with the regime of
Jean-Bédel Bokassa in the
Central African Republic. Giscard was initially a friend of Bokassa, and supplied the regime. 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
Dacko being overthrown in another coup in 1981. The saga contributed to Giscard losing his
1981 reelection bid.
Soviet Union Giscard d'Estaing fancied himself a peace-maker with the
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
National Assembly that he was the "petit télégraphiste de Varsovie" ("little telegraph operator from Warsaw").
1981 presidential election In the
1981 presidential election, Giscard took a severe blow to his support when Chirac ran against him in the
first round. and blamed Chirac for his defeat thereafter. In later years, it was widely said that Giscard loathed Chirac; certainly on many occasions Giscard criticised Chirac's policies despite supporting Chirac's governing coalition. 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." 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 "
Au revoir" before walking out as "
La Marseillase" was played, leaving audiences to view his empty desk for the duration of the song. ==Post-presidency==