Following his defeat in 1981, Giscard continued to play a role in political life, regaining a seat in French parliament before going on to serve in European parliament. He was selected by EU leaders to lead efforts on the bloc’s constitutional treaty in 2001. The treaty was, however, rejected by French voters, with Giscard concluding his political career in 2004 after losing his legislative seat. Also, his election was the end of France’s “magnificent thirty years” period, which began after the end of the World War and whose memory is still alive in the minds of the French. This was the period when the country was moving towards prosperity and the conditions of the French government were such that it even digested the May 1968 movement.
