2023-12-28 00:04:29
In recent years, his speech had become extremely rare and his laughing blue eyes could no longer be seen behind his austere glasses. Jacques Delors died this Wednesday morning at his Parisian home “in his sleep”, said his daughter Martine Aubry.
In March 2020, at the start of the Covid pandemic, Jacques Delors nevertheless broke his silence. To once again and tirelessly defend the European Union, fearing that the lack of solidarity between States would put it “in mortal danger”, adding, worried, that “the microbe is back”.
The relaunch of European construction was the great work of the former President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, who followed the lineage of the “founding fathers” at the origin of the Treaty of Rome.
He breathed new life into the Old Continent
When he arrived in Brussels, the year he turned 60, Jacques Delors had just spent three years as Minister of the Economy, Finance and then the Budget in the Mauroy government within which he initiated the “turn of rigor” . François Mitterrand once considered appointing him to Matignon. Not many people bet on the success of this discreet man at a time when the Europe of Ten is mired in immobility and undermined by Europessimism. With three principles, “competition which stimulates, cooperation which strengthens and solidarity which unites”, Delors nevertheless, for a decade, breathed new life into the Old Continent.
In 1986, he orchestrated the signing by the Member States of the Single Act which provides for the free movement of people, goods, capital and services. “My favorite treatise” he said. With a privileged relationship with Chancellor Helmut Kohl and a visionary, he also accelerated the entry into Europe of the former East German Länder after the fall of the Berlin Wall, convinced that German reunification would open a new chapter for the European building.
Inspirer of the single European currency
Pragmatic architect of a Europe which was then experiencing its golden age, Delors obtained the implementation of a solidarity system towards the poorest regions of the continent, created the Erasmus student program, reformed the common agricultural policy (CAP) and launches the European Program for Aid to the Most Deprived.
The one who defined himself as an “active pessimist” will also remain as the inspiration, from 1989, of the single European currency. But he will have left without the establishment of a European economic government for which he will never stop pleading. “You can’t fall in love with a big market,” he insisted.
On January 19, 1995, Jacques Delors left the European Commission, ten years after taking over its presidency. AFP/Damien MEYER
Many on the left are urging him to run in the 1995 presidential election, especially since he is leading in the polls. His friends from the Témoin club, then chaired by a certain François Hollande, are stamping their feet. But on December 11, 1994, he announced live on TF1 that he was renouncing his candidacy. A decision which puts an end to fifty years of a rich professional life where he was successively an influential trade unionist, a noted senior civil servant then a politician always reluctant to play political games.
A journey that aroused distrust
The young Jacques Delors, born July 20, 1925 in Paris, nevertheless dreamed of being a fashion designer, filmmaker or journalist. It was finally at the Banque de France that he started at the age of 19, encouraged by his father who worked there as a cash collector. The young man quickly rose through the ranks, continuing his studies at the same time almost self-taught. In 1962, he joined the General Planning Commission and then joined the office of Gaullist Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas in 1969, where he participated in the development of the “new society” project. A career that aroused suspicion when he joined the Socialist Party in 1974, for which he was a European deputy.
But it is in trade unionism that this left-wing Catholic, keen on jazz and passionate about sport, truly forged his commitment. At the CFTC (French Confederation of Christian Workers) from 1945 then at the CFDT. It was also at the Banque de France union that Jacques Delors met his wife Marie (who died in June 2020). From their union was born in 1950 Martine Delors, who under her married name, Aubry, became a minister several times, first secretary of the PS and mayor of Lille. And three years later, Jean-Paul Delors, who died of leukemia at the age of 29, just as he was beginning a promising career as a journalist. A drama that will forever mark Jacques Delors.
Bio express
July 20, 1925: birth in Paris.
1950: he obtained a law degree and joined the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC).
1962: he joined the General Planning Commission.
1964: he follows the non-denominational majority current of the CFTC which became the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT).
1969: he joins the cabinet of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Prime Minister. He participates in the “New Society” project that Chaban wanted to promote.
1974: he joins the Socialist Party. Professor of management at Paris-Dauphine University (until 1979).
1979-1981: MEP.
1981-1984: Minister of Economy and Finance in the governments of Pierre Mauroy.
From March 1983 to December 1984: mayor of Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine).
1985-1995: President of the European Commission.
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