Former French president of the European Commission Jacques Delors passed away on Wednesday at the age of 98.
“He passed away in his sleep this morning at his residence in Paris,” his daughter Martine Aubry, who is also the socialist mayor of Lille, said.
His presidency in Brussels from 1985 to 1995 was marked by the establishment of the euro single currency and the modern single market of the European Union, both of which were initiatives ascribed to the French socialist politician.
His notorious disputes with former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s regarding the transfer of authority to Brussels helped define British Euroscepticism.
He is arguably most renowned in the United Kingdom for the renowned headline “Up Yours, Delors” that appeared in The Sun newspaper before the 1993 implementation of the Maastricht Treaty.
Esteemed within the alliance, Mr. Delors was frequently referred to as the “high priest of ever closer union,” an epithet that earned him widespread admiration.
Former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier wrote on social media: “Jacques Delors was a source of inspiration and a reason to believe in a ‘certain idea’ of politics, France, and Europe for many of us, transcending political divisions.”
Brexit repercussions
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Later, to promote European federalism, Mr. Delors established think institutes. In recent years, he has cautioned against the perils of populism in Europe and urged “audacity” in addressing the repercussions of Brexit.
Wednesday, Enrico Letta, president of the Jacques Delors Institute, stated, “The founding father of modern Europe is passing away today.”
On July 20, 1925, in the vicinity of the Place de la Bastille in the heart of Paris, Mr. Delors was born. The political stance of his family spanned from staunch communism to socialism.
His father was a Banque de France usher with a socialist tendency to the left, but he also became a pacifist after suffering a severe injury during the First World War.
During his youth, Mr. Delors’s education was disrupted due to the frequent relocations of his family during the Second World War.
Shortly after the German invasion, he commenced his studies at the University of Strasbourg before being apprehended by occupational forces. Apprehensive that the Nazis would dispatch him overseas, he postponed his academic pursuits.
Upon his return to Paris in 1944, he commenced his political career after later becoming active in the Catholic trade union movement and the Banque de France.
Three years after he had joined the Socialist Party in 1971, he was invited to defect to the conservative Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and the left-wing Francois Mitterrand.
It has been said that Mr. Delors delighted in the political classification of socialists as right-wing and Gaullists as left-wing.
The current president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, stated: “We are all successors to Jacques Delors’s life’s work: a prosperous and dynamic European Union.
“During the darkest hours of the Second World War, Jacques Delors forged his commitment to peace and his vision of a unified Europe.”
“Craftsman of our continent”
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, described Mr. Delors as an “inexhaustible craftsman of our Europe.”
“His steadfastness, his ideals, and his moral rectitude will perpetually motivate us.” “I share the sorrow of his family and friends as I honor his memory and contributions,” Mr. Macron continued.
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, stated: “Jacques Delors oversaw the European Economic Community’s transition to a genuine union, supported by a unified market and currency, the euro, and founded on humanist principles.
“Such was his ardor and determination in advocating for it until his final moments.” “A great European and great Frenchman, he is remembered in history as one of the architects of our Europe.”
Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, stated, “Jacques Delors was a towering political figure, regardless of one’s stance on his vision for the modern European Union. He was the preeminent architect of that union.”
Delors was instrumental in establishing the Maastricht Treaty and the Euro. Indeed, the single market would not have existed in the absence of Delors. Utilizing post–Cold War apprehensions regarding Germany, he skillfully established a novel federal framework for Europe. His execution was no less impressive.
“His ideas were never suitable for the United Kingdom, as he later appeared to admit, and many on the continent are uncertain about the EU’s future direction.” No longer, however, can anyone dispute his legacy. “Whatever you may think of the contemporary EU, that is the house that Jacques constructed.”
From 1981 to 1984, Mr. Delors held the position of finance minister under President Francois Mitterrand, culminating in a prominent political career in France.
However, in 1995, after his term in Brussels, he declined to compete for the French presidency, despite being overwhelmingly ahead in the polls.
He ascended to the position of leader at the Commission in 1985 and presided over the bloc’s most integrationist initiatives for a decade.
The aforementioned initiatives comprised the establishment of the euro, the Schengen free-travel zone, and the Erasmus University exchange program.
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