Belgium's Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, was about to start a discussion on who should chair the Convention on Europe's future when the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, said he had a suggestion. Why not ask everyone around the table to state their view straight away? And by the way, Mr Chirac continued, he would like to nominate Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
Germany's Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schr÷der, chimed in that he too thought the 75 year-old former French president was the right man for the job.
But when the Taoiseach's turn came, he said that although he had been coming to EU summits for 15 years, Mr Giscard had been long gone by the time he arrived. He felt the convention ought to look to the future rather than the past but he would not stand in the way of a consensus choice.
"Like many things in the Union, compromises are made and this is one of them," Mr Ahern said later.
Speaking to the media after the decision, Mr Verhofstadt welcomed Mr Giscard's appointment with the faintest praise.
"I don't know him personally but I haven't heard of any impediments. Besides, he has an excellent staff," he said.
Much of the sneering that greeted Mr Giscard's appointment focused on his age and the fact that he ceased to be French president in 1981. "He's not so much yesterday's man as the day before yesterday's man," said one senior EU diplomat. In fact, Mr Giscard has been active in European politics since he left the ╔lysΘe Palace and has served as a group leader in the European Parliament.
Born in Koblenz, Germany, in 1926, Mr Giscard became a member of the French national assembly and was finance minister in Charles de Gaulle's government from 1962 until 1966. He held the same post again in 1969 under Georges Pompidou. He ran for president after Pompidou's death in 1974, defeating Franτois Mitterrand.
As president, Mr Giscard appointed Mr Chirac as his prime minister. He introduced divorce and abortion law reforms and reduced the voting age to 18.
In Europe, he helped initiate the exchange rate Mechanism in 1978 and direct elections to the European Parliament from 1979.
Since leaving the presidency, Mr Giscard has been a member of the French national assembly and, from 1989, a member of the European Parliament.
Two vice-chairmen were appointed to assist Mr Giscard. They are the former Italian prime minister, Mr Giuliano Amato (63) and the former Belgian prime minister, Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene (61).
