In Toulouse, the baptism of the forecourt Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
In front of the Matabiau station, in Toulouse, the forecourt which will bear the name of the former President of the Republic will be baptized this Saturday, October 8 in the presence of Anne-Aymone and Louis Giscard d’Estaing.
After Jacques Chirac last year who gave his name to a boulevard, another President of the Republic will be honored in Toulouse. The forecourt of Matabiau station, now pedestrianized and extended, since 2019, on the Canal du Midi, thanks to a large wooden esplanade, will bear the name of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1926-2020). The baptism of this original public space is scheduled for this Saturday, October 8 in the presence of Anne-Aymone, the wife of “VGE” and former First Lady of France, Louis Giscard d’Estaing, the couple’s second son, and Dominique Busserau, former minister under the presidency of Jacques Chirac.
Anne-Aymone is the honorary president of the Valéry Giscard d’Estaing Foundation, Louis is the president and Dominique Bussereau, the vice-president. The Foundation aims to “raise awareness of the period in the political, economic and social history of France and Europe during which Valéry Giscard d’Estaing played a decisive role and more particularly the period of his seven-year term”, as detailed on its website.
If work is still in progress in the enclosure of the station to enlarge it for the arrival of the LGV, the square, where some photos of the former president should be exposed, offer a vast space to the pedestrians. Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing and Jean-Luc Moudenc, the mayor of Toulouse, were to make a speech. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing went to Toulouse in 1979 where he was received in the red salon of the Capitol by Pierre Baudis, the mayor, to talk about the economic development of the city. The decision to give the name of the President of the Republic who died in December 2020 to a public space was voted in January 2021.