Former minister and president of the European Commission Jacques Delors has died, announced his daughter Martine Aubry.
He was the last great architect of Europe. Jacques Delors died this Wednesday, December 27, 2023, announced his daughter, Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille. “He died this morning at his Parisian home in his sleep,” said the elected official soberly. Aged 98, he who was President of the European Commission for 10 years (1985-1995) but also Minister of Economy and Finance in the governments of Pierre Mauroy, during the presidency of François Mitterrand, was a figure of the left, which he had also represented in Brussels during a mandate as a European deputy (1979-1980).
Retired from political life for a long time, the former collaborator of Jacques Chaban-Delmas had been placed in a specialized establishment near Lille during the Covid pandemic. At the beginning of this period, however, he took up his pen to warn of the disintegration of the EU: “The climate which reigns between the heads of state and government and the lack of solidarity pose a mortal danger to the European Union .”
At the head of Europe, Jacques Delors had enabled the establishment of the major fundamentals of the rapprochement of nations: Treaty of Maastricht, signing of the Schengen agreements, Single European Act, launch of the Erasmus program, reform of the common agricultural policy, start of work on the Economic and Monetary Union enabling the creation of the euro…
Best candidate of the left in the 1995 presidential election, Jacques Delors finally gave up running, although he was best placed in the polls to beat Jacques Chirac. The announcement was made on TF1, in the show 7 sur 7, in front of 13 million people. If the fear of an absence of a majority to govern and internal quarrels were at the origin, the reluctance of his wife and his daughter would have ultimately decided him.
A native of Paris, Jacques Delors established his family life in the 12th arrondissement of Paris and near Fontaine-la-Gaillarde, in Yonne. Married to Marie Lephaille in 1948 – who died in 2020 -, he was the father of Martine Aubry, born two years later, and of Jean-Paul Delors, born in 1953, but died of leukemia in 1982. Relations with his daughter always seemed to be distant. According to several biographies, the former politician would, for example, never have complimented his daughter, any more after her success at the ENA than after the taking over of the PS. Between the two of them, disagreements were strong and sometimes aired in public.
Emmanuel Macron praised the memory of this “statesman of French destiny. Inexhaustible architect of our Europe. Fighter for human justice. Jacques Delors was all of that. His commitment, his ideal and his righteousness will always inspire us. I salute his work and his memory and shares the pain of his loved ones.”
