Former EU Commission president Jacques Delors dies at 98

Issued on: 27/12/2023 – 17:53Modified: 27/12/2023 – 18:33

1 min

Delors, who was 98, died in his sleep in his Paris home on Wednesday, she said.

Delors, a Socialist, had a high-profile political career in France, where he served as finance minister under president Francois Mitterrand from 1981 to 1984.

But he declined to run for president in 1995 despite being overwhelmingly ahead in the polls, a decision he later put down to “a desire for independence that was too great”.

He headed up the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, a decade that saw major steps in the bloc’s integration.

These included the creation of the common market, the Schengen accords for travel, the Erasmus programme for student exchanges and the creation of the bloc’s single currency, the euro.

His drive for increased integration met with resistance in some member countries, especially Britain under prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

“Up Yours Delors” read a famous 1990 front-page headline in The Sun newspaper which voiced its concerns about a single currency and increased powers for the European Parliament. 

Delors later founded think tanks with the aim of furthering European federalism, and in recent years warned of the dangers of populism in Europe, also calling for “audacity” in dealing with the Brexit fallout.

(AFP)