2023-12-29 14:07:34
Emmanuel Macron praised the announcement of his death as an “inexhaustible architect of our Europe”. The Head of State will preside over a national tribute ceremony at the Invalides on January 5 to Jacques Delors, who died on Wednesday at the age of 98, the Élysée announced on Friday, confirming information from France Inter.
Apostle of European construction, father of the euro and ephemeral hope of the French left in the 1995 presidential election, Jacques Delors had also been François Mitterrand’s Minister of the Economy at the time of the turning point in austerity.
From Brussels where he headed the Commission from 1985 to 1995, Jacques Delors shaped the contours of contemporary Europe: single European act, establishment of the single market, Schengen agreements, launch of the Erasmus student exchange program, implementation construction of the Economic and Monetary Union which will lead to the euro…
“A visionary who made our Europe stronger”
The leaders of the European Union (EU), and certain national officials, praised the work of this “builder” of Europe on Wednesday evening. He was “a visionary who made our Europe stronger” and whose “work (…) shaped entire generations of Europeans”, reacted the current President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Jacques Delors was a visionary who made our Europe stronger.
His life’s work is a united, dynamic and prosperous European Union.
It has shaped entire generations of Europeans, including mine.
Let us honor his legacy by constantly renewing our Europe.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 27, 2023
He “entered history as one of the builders of our Europe”, greeted the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, describing Jacques Delors as a “great Frenchman and great European”. From Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed a “visionary who became an architect of the EU as we know it today”. “It is our responsibility to continue his work today for the good of Europe,” he added.
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