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Jacques Delors, former European Commission president, dies aged 98

[Note: trying out /c/politics’ new international politics focus]

Politician considered to be founding father of today’s European Union died at his home in Paris

Jacques Delors, the former European Commission president considered a founding father of today’s EU, has died aged 98 at his home in Paris.

Delors, also a former French government minister, was a passionate advocate of postwar European integration and credited as the driving force behind the introduction of the euro, the EU’s single currency, and the creation of the bloc’s single market.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, was one of the first to pay tribute. “A statesman of French destiny. An inexhaustible architect of our Europe. A fighter for human justice,” he said in a statement.

1 comments

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:

    He became the chief bogeyman for British Eurosceptics – leading the Sun to run its 1990 front page headline: Up yours Delors, a taste of what was to come more than 25 years later during the Brexit campaign.

    Recalling the exchanges with Thatcher, the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “To represent him as some kind of fanatical federalist who wanted to create some country called Europe with all the trappings of that was extremely misleading, but it suited her political purpose at that time.

    Kinnock described Delors as a “very polite, calm, highly intelligent man, a problem-solver”, adding: “He wouldn’t let his judgment of what was possible, what was practical, what was doable be clouded by personal reservation or dislike.”

    Former prime minister Boris Johnson said Delors “was the pre-eminent architect of the modern European Union and whether you agreed or not with his vision he was a towering political figure.”

    Writing in Le Monde, political journalist Françoise Fressoz said Delors was “an authentic socialist, revolted by injustice, desiring to change the course of things”.

    Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, wrote on X: “Jacques Delors was a visionary who made our Europe stronger.

    The original article contains 832 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!