Jacques Delors, the former president of the European Commission and the creator of the Euro currency, died on Wednesday. He was 98.
One of the most significant figures in post-war Europe, Delors presided over the creation of the EU’s single market and laid the groundwork for economic and monetary union.
The Frenchman also oversaw the bloc’s enlargement from 10 to 15 member during his 1985 to 1995 tenure as commission president. He served for three terms – longer than any other holder of the office
However, his drive for closer unity made him a divisive figure as some political leaders, particularly Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, who opposed Brussels’ influence.
Delors was a major figure in the French Socialist party, and was finance minister under former President François Mitterrand.
He remains best known for his efforts to create a united Europe, culminating in the Maastricht treaty of 1992, although he was disappointed with the compromises that came with it.
French President Emmanuel Macron called him an “indefatigable artisan of our Europe” and paid tribute to his “work and his memory”. “His engagement, his idealism and his integrity will inspire us for ever,” Macron said on X, formerly Twitter.
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called Delors “a visionary who made our Europe stronger. His life-long work was a united European Union, dynamic and prosperous.”
Former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta, who now runs the Jacques Delors Institute think-tank founded by the former commission president in 1996, said modern Europe had “lost its founding father”.
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said Europe had “lost a true statesman”. Michel Barnier, a former European commissioner and the EU’s lead negotiator with Britain over the Brexit deal, said Delors had been “a source of inspiration for many of us, well beyond our political leanings”.
Delors’ daughter Martine Aubry, mayor of the French city of Lille, told Agence France-Presse that he had died in his sleep on Wednesday morning at his Paris home.
