Valery Giscard D’Estaing, who died last Wednesday, can truly be said to be the architect of the constitutional arrangements under which the EU works to this day.
He was President of the Convention of the Future of Europe, a very large and diverse body, which produced a draft EU Constitution of immense detail . 95% of the content of the present EU Treaties are drawn from this draft Constitution.
It was thanks to his personal leadership and natural authority that consensus, on inherently contentious matters, was achieved.
I observed his political skills at work , as one of the nine member Praesidium of the Convention which agreed the drafts he presented.
Brian Lynch
It would be interesting to hear what he was like to work with. Was he aware for instance of the MacMahon connection to Ireland?