Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is an energetic 86-year old. When we meet in Paris, for the first interview he’s given since the Socialists took power earlier this month, the former French president is fresh off the plane from a hunting trip in Namibia. Soon, he’ll hop on another flight bound for China, where he heads a think tank.
Giscard still holds the record for being the youngest president of the Fifth Republic – he was 48 when he took the keys to the Élysée. But there’s another claim to fame he’ll be glad to have relinquished – until Sarkozy’s defeat, he was the only recent leader not to win a second term.
On France’s new Socialist president, Giscard’s view is clear – Francois Hollande lacks a strong mandate. ‘The election was a rejection of Sarkozy much more than it was an embrace of the Socialists. There isn’t a huge amount of support, and people are conscious of Hollande’s lack of experience.
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