Brussels – He is still the only person to have served as President of the European Commission three times. Among the fathers of the euro, with him at the Berlaymont Palace, the single market was established, the common agricultural policy reformed, and the Schengen agreements and the Maastricht Treaty were signed. Jacques Delors passed away today (Dec. 27) at the age of 98, a “giant” of Europe, as he was remembered by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
“He passed away this morning at his home in Paris in his sleep,” said his daughter, Martine Aubry, also a seasoned politician and mayor of Lille. Jacques Delors, a leading figure of the French left, adhered to the Socialist Party led by Francois Mitterand in 1974. Five years later he was elected as a member of the European Parliament in Brussels, where he also headed the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He left his post in the European Parliament, however, as early as 1981, when he was appointed minister of economy in Pierre Mauroy’s socialist government. In 1985, after negotiations on the Franco-German axis—and with the British PM of the time, Margaret Thatcher—he was appointed president of the European Executive. Until 1995.
“With the death of Jacques Delors, the EU loses a giant. The last honorary citizen of Europe, he worked tirelessly, as president of the European Commission and member of the European Parliament, for a united Europe. Generations of Europeans will continue to benefit from his legacy,” has twitted the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, also relied on X to pay tribute to Delors, the man who “led the transformation of the European Economic Community toward a true Union, based on humanist values and supported by a single market and a single currency, the euro.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
