The EU mourns the loss of Jacques Delors, a “visionary” of European construction

The European Union Today we mourn the death at the age of 98 of the Frenchman Jacques Delors, a “visionary” of the community project who presided over the European Comission between 1985 and 1995 and which left a deep mark on the political future of the EU.

“He was a visionary who made our Europe stronger. His life’s work is a European Union united, dynamic and prosperous. She has shaped entire generations of Europeans, including mine. Let us honor his legacy by constantly renewing our Europe“, wrote in X the president of the European ComissionUrsula von der Leyen.

Jacques Delors (Paris, 1920), who governed the helm of the Community Executive in a period of great changes, such as the disintegration of the USSR or the reunification of Germanypromoted the shared project both politically and economically, a contribution for which he was distinguished in 2015 as an honorary citizen of Europe, a decoration that only the Frenchman Jean Monnet and the German Helmut Kohl have received.

“He led the transformation of the European Economic Community towards a true Union, based on humanist values ​​and supported by a single market and a single currency, the euro (…). Great Frenchman and great European, he goes down in history as one of the builders of our Europe”, the president of the European Councilthe Belgian Charles Michel.

The vice-president of the Commission and high representative for foreign policy of the EUthe Spanish Josep Borrell, assured after hearing the news of the death that “Europe just lost one of its giants”.

“Shaped the destiny of the EU through the strength of their convictions and the rigor of their action. He thus enters the Pantheon of the greats that Europe has produced and whose legacy we must assume.“Borrell noted on social networks.

Delores was president of the European Comission between 1985 and 1995, a period in which the European Economic Community It became a political alliance and was renamed the European Union, which in that decade welcomed Spain and Portugal in 1986 and Sweden, Finland and Austria in 1995, for a total of fifteen States.

Inspirer of the European single market, architect of the euro and promoter of the Erasmus student exchange programme, the French social democrat, affectionately nicknamed Monsieur Europe, is widely considered the most influential of those who have presided over the European Comission.

The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, referred to this political legacy in her condolences on social networks, who recalled that “He worked, tirelessly, as president of the European Commission and member of the European Parliament”, for a united Europe. Generations of Europeans will continue to benefit from his legacy.”

“With the death of Jacques Delorsthe EU loses a giant“added the Maltese.