According to his daughter Martine Aubry, who spoke to AFP on Wednesday, Jacques Delors, the former head of the European Union Commission and a pivotal player in the development of the euro, passed away. Delors, 98, reportedly passed away peacefully on Wednesday night at his Parisian residence. Socialist Delors enjoyed a prominent political career in France.
Jacques Delors, the former head of the European Union Commission and a key figure in the creation of the euro currency, has died, his daughter Martine Aubry told AFP on Wednesday. Delors, who was 98, died in his sleep at his Paris home on Wednesday, they said. Delors, a socialist, had a high-profile political career in France, where he served as Finance Minister under President François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1984.
But despite a huge lead in the polls he declined to run for president in 1995, a decision he said was due to his “great desire for independence”. “I have no regrets,” he later said of that decision.
He led the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, a decade that saw major steps taken in the bloc’s integration. These included the completion of the common market, the Schengen Agreement for travel, the Erasmus program for student exchanges, and the creation of the bloc’s single currency, the euro. His campaign for increased integration faced resistance in some member states, particularly Britain under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
“Up Your Dellers” read a famous front-page headline in The Sun newspaper in 1990, expressing its concerns about the single currency and increased powers for the European Parliament. Delors later founded a think tank aimed at advancing European federalism, and in recent years has warned about the dangers of populism in Europe, while also calling for “audacity” in dealing with the Brexit fallout. He also urged greater solidarity among EU members during the coronavirus pandemic.
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