A short summary of the political career of the President of the Convention.

Valery Giscard d’Estaing, commonly referred to in France by his three initials (VGE) was born in Koblenz (germany) on 2. February 1926. Before being president of France (1974-1981), VGE occupied several functions, as a member of the national assembly but also as a minister. After defeating the socialist Francois Mitterrand he returned to the national assembly (84-89) and played a major role in unifying france’s right wing.

Before being elected member of the european Parliament in 1989 (European People’s Party) and President of the council of European municipalities and Regions in 2001, it must not be forgotten that VGE played also a crucial role in several european initiatives, among which were:
- creation of the european council, first in Paris in 1974.
- Election by universal suffrage of the European Parliament (decision of the Council of Ministers of the EEC in 1976; first elections in Europe in June 79)
- Creation of the European monetary system

More than his professional activities, the relevant questions for us are the following ones: what are VGE’s visions for EU’s future? What are the position of the convention’s chairman towards federalism? The answers to the questions are very hard to find because of the plurality and the disagreement of the speeches he pronounced. We can confine ourselves to know a few points:
- After Joschka Fischer’s speech he suggested with Jacques Delors and Helmut Schmidt that to preserve Europe’s dynamic and to hammer out the terms of the federal experiment an inner core group should be formed.
- He compared the Convention on the EU future with the Philadelphia Convention that prepared a constitution for the US.
- He said also that „the aim of the convention on EU future is to present to the intergovernmental conference a unique, complete document, which should be a constitutive instrument“.
- He said also that Nice „might ever enter into force“

No doubt that VGE’s views about Europe’s future will come out in the coming months... patience dear european friends, patience...