Jacques Delors, who drove EU integration, dies at 98

Jacques Delors, the former president of the European Commission and one of the main architects of today’s EU, has died at the age of 98.

Delors was one of the most consequential figures in postwar Europe, presiding over the creation of the EU’s single market and laying the groundwork for economic and monetary union. He also oversaw the bloc’s enlargement from 10 to 15 members.

But the Frenchman’s drive for closer unity made him a divisive figure as some political leaders, particularly Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, began to chafe at what they regarded as over-reach by Brussels.

His tenure as commission president from 1985 to 1995 marked the high-water mark of European integration, and no holder of the post since has exerted the same authority.

His death was announced hours after that of long-serving German conservative politician Wolfgang Schäuble, another advocate of a united Europe.

Delors was the grandson of French farmers and the son of a bank worker, according to the Élysée Palace. He became a major figure in the Socialist party, and served as finance minister under President François Mitterrand, when he helped steer the government away from radical left-wing economic experiments to more conventional, market-based policy.

However, after a decade in Brussels he passed up a chance to run for the French presidency in 1995 when his party had pushed him to the fore.

Delors’ greatest impact lay in his tireless efforts to forge a more united Europe, culminating in the Maastricht treaty of 1992. It created the framework for the single currency, although he was disappointed with the compromises that were needed.

Emmanuel Macron, president of France, called him an “indefatigable artisan of our Europe” and paid tribute to his “work and his memory”.

“His legacy, which is more alive than ever, invites us to walk in his steps towards a sovereign and fraternal Europe, resolutely turned towards the future,” the Élysée said in a statement.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Delors “was a visionary who made our Europe stronger. His life-long work was a united European Union, dynamic and prosperous.”

Former prime minister of Italy Enrico Letta, who now runs the Jacques Delors Institute think-tank founded by the former commission president in 1996, said modern Europe had “lost its founding father”.

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said Europe had “lost a true statesman”.

Michel Barnier, a former European commissioner and the EU’s lead negotiator with Britain over the Brexit deal, said Delors had been “a source of inspiration for many of us, well beyond our political leanings”.

Delors’ daughter Martine Aubry, who is the Socialist mayor of the French city of Lille, told the French news agency AFP in a statement that he had died in his sleep on Wednesday morning at his Paris home.