Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing has died at the age of 94, his office and the French presidency say

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who became a champion of European integration during his 1974-1981 presidency, has died at age 94. Giscard d’Estaing’s office said Wednesday night that he passed away in his family home in the Loir-et-Cher region, in central France, after contracting COVID-19. Born in Germany in the wake of World War I, Giscard d’Estaing helped liberate Paris from the Nazis in the next world war, and later laid the groundwork for the shared euro currency and helped integrate Britain into what became the EU in the 1970s.