As president of the European Commission (EC), Delors was the most visible and influential leader in European affairs. He implemented policies that closely linked the member nations together and promoted the need for unity. He created a single market that made the free movement of persons, capital, goods, and services within the European Economic Community (EEC) possible. He also headed the Delors Committee, which proposed the monetary union to create the euro, a new single currency to replace individual national currencies. This was achieved by the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.
Born in Paris in a family originating from Corrèze, Delors first held in the 1940s through the 1960s a series of posts in French banking and state planning with the Bank of France.[1] As a member of the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC), he participated in its secularization and the foundation of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT). In 1969, he became social affairs adviser to the Gaullist Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a move which was presented as part of Chaban's outreach to the centre-ground and first attracted media attention to Delors personally.[1]
In 1957, Delors left the CFDT when he became a high government official to avoid conflicts of interests. In 1974, he joined the Socialist Party, with other left-wing Christians. He was one of the rare members of the party to be openly religious, thus challenging its long-standing secular tradition of laïcité.[2] He served in the European Parliament from 1979 to 1981, becoming chairman of its Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, actively taking part in debates about economic, social, and monetary policies.[1] Under President François Mitterrand, Delors served as Economics and Finance Minister from 1981 to 1983, and Economics, Finance, and Budget Minister from 1983 to 1984.[1] He advocated a pause in the social policies, a clear acceptance of the market economy, and an alignment with European social democracy. Critically, he held the line on France's membership of the European Monetary System (EMS), giving priority to monetary stability over left-wing spending priorities. Mitterrand flirted with the idea of naming him Prime Minister, but never made the appointment.[3]
Delors became the President of the European Commission in January 1985. During his presidency, he oversaw important budgetary reforms and laid the groundwork for the introduction of a single market within the European Community. It came into effect on 1 January 1993 and allowed the free movement of persons, capital, goods, and services within the Community.[4][5]
Delors also headed the Committee for the Study of Economic and Monetary Union, widely known as the Delors Committee, that in early 1989 proposed the creation of a new currency—the euro—to replace individual national currencies. This was achieved in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.[6]
In opposition to the strident neoliberalism of US president Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) that dominated the American political agenda, Delors promoted an alternative interpretation of capitalism that embedded it in the European social structure. He synthesized three themes.[7] First, from the left came support for the redistribution of wealth and protection of the weakest. Second, a neo-mercantilist approach was designed to maximize European industrial output. And the third was reliance on the marketplace. His emphasis on the social dimension of Europe was and remains central to a strong narrative that became a key element of the self-identification of the European Union.[8]
The Delors presidency is considered to have been the apex of the European Commission's influence on European integration.[3]
Post-presidency
Delors had a longstanding interest in education. As the initiator of a French law in 1971 (la formation professionnelle continue, FPC) requiring firms to set aside part of their profits for educational opportunities for their employees, he also chaired a UNESCO Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century from 1993 to 1996, whose final report was published as Learning: the Treasure Within.[9] This work continues to have a significant influence on discourse on lifelong learning, forming the conceptual foundation for both the Canadian Composite Learning Index as well as the European Lifelong Learning Indicators (ELLI) project.[10][11]
In 1994, members of the Socialist Party attempted to persuade Delors to run for president. Polls showed that he would have a very good chance of defeating either of the main conservative contenders, Prime Minister Édouard Balladur and Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac.[12] However Delors declined to run and the eventual Socialist nominee, Lionel Jospin, was defeated in the 1995 presidential election by Jacques Chirac.[13][14]
Delors founded the Paris-based, centre-left think tankNotre Europe in 1996 and remained one of its presidents for the rest of his life.[15][16] He was president of the Conseil de l'emploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale, and an honorary member of both the Institut Aspen France and the Club of Rome.[13]
In 2012, Delors stated in the Handelsblatt newspaper that "If the British cannot support the trend towards more integration in Europe, we can nevertheless remain friends, but on a different basis. I could imagine a form such as a European economic area or a free-trade agreement."[19]
On 25 June 2015, Donald Tusk announced that Delors would become the third person to have the title of Honorary Citizen of Europe bestowed upon them, in recognition of "his remarkable contribution to the development of the European project".[20]
In March 2024, Delores was posthumously given a "Special Recognition" award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards, in recognition of his contributions towards the European project, to mark the awards' 20th anniversary.[21]
Delors died in his sleep at his home in Paris, on 27 December 2023, aged 98.[24] He was honored with a state funeral at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris on 5 January in the presence of political figures from all over Europe[25] before his burial alongside his wife and his son at the Fontaine-la-Gaillarde cemetery.[26]
Awards
1990: Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Medal for Freedom of Speech.[27]
^Michael J. Baun, "The Maastricht Treaty as High Politics: Germany, France, and European Integration." Political Science Quarterly 110.4 (1995): 605–624. onlineArchived 9 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine
^Warlouzet, Laurent (2017). Governing Europe in a Globalizing World. Neoliberalism and its Alternatives following the 1973 Oil Crisis. London: Routledge. ISBN9781138729421.
^Alessandra Bitumi, "'An uplifting tale of Europe'. Jacques Delors and the contradictory quest for a European social model in the Age of Reagan." Journal of Transatlantic Studies 16.3 (2018): 203–221 online[dead link].
^Campbell & Pedersen, John L. & Ove K. (2014). The National Origins of Policy Ideas: Knowledge Regimes in the United States, France, Germany, and Denmark. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press. p. 339. ISBN978-0691161167.
Bitumi, Alessandra. "'An uplifting tale of Europe'. Jacques Delors and the contradictory quest for a European social model in the Age of Reagan." Journal of Transatlantic Studies 16.3 (2018): 203–221.
Drake, Helen. Jacques Delors: perspectives on a European leader (Psychology Press, 2000).
Drake, Helen. "Political leadership and European integration: the case of Jacques Delors." West European Politics 18.1 (1995): 140–160. Online
Endo, Ken. The presidency of the European Commission under Jacques Delors: The politics of shared leadership (Springer, 1999).
Ross, George, and Jane Jenson. "Reconsidering Jacques Delors' leadership of the European union." Journal of European Integration 39.2 (2017): 113–127.
Van Assche, Tobias. "The impact of entrepreneurial leadership on EU high politics: A case study of Jacques Delors and the creation of EMU." Leadership 1.3 (2005): 279–298.
Warlouzet, Laurent. Governing Europe in a Globalizing World. Neoliberalism and its Alternatives following the 1973 Oil Crisis (Routledge, 2017). Online
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