The French national flag flies at half-mast to pay homage to late French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, France, Dec. 9, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening declared Dec. 9 a day of national mourning for late president Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Giscard d'Estaing, president of France from 1974 to 1981, firmly supported European integration and worked with Germany's former chancellor Helmut Schmidt to create the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1979, which later gave birth to the euro, Europe's single common currency. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
