Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, former president of France and father of Europe's constitutional treaty, has been around long enough to know how to pitch a political proposition to an audience. The 79-year-old president of the convention that drew up the constitution beguiled 600 of France's top military officers last month with his explanation of its significance.

The introduction of a treaty governing the expanded European Union of 25 member countries was, he told them, a "historic event" solidifying the biggest political organisation in the world after China and India. Caressing the pages of the treaty document, Mr Giscard explained how the various articles of the constitution defined the values of the EU and the rights of its citizens, contained the rules explaining how the enlarged union would work and codified preceding treaties.