“ The father of Europe » is dead, written The evening : Jacques Delors died on Wednesday December 27, at his home in Paris, at the age of 98. And this Thursday morning, all the European newspapers are paying tribute to the man who is, for some, “ the architect » of Europe, for others its “ builder » – in all cases, the one who built the European project with his ideas. A discreet man, for whom “ glamor was never important » remembers her Swedish Zeitung. A man who stood out for his “ momentum » as much as his « modesty ” estimated The evening« without fuss » adds again El País.
A few pages later, the spanish newspaper states unequivocally that “ no personality is as associated as his with the presidency of the Commission » which he took with him for ten years.
An imposing legacy
In fact, without “this almost discreet little man, the euro would not exist today », asserts the Swedish Zeitung« and maybe not even the internal market “. Because despite his modesty, Jacques Delors was animated, “ wanting to change the course of things ”, believes he knows The weather.
Throughout his career – employee of the Banque de France, Member of the European Parliament, Minister of the Economy and Finance – it is indeed his “long tenure » from the European Commission which makes the biggest impression. A decade among the most fertile in Europe » greets The eveningpunctuated by “the time of the single market, the Maastricht Treaty, the Economic and Monetary Union, the Social Charter, the Erasmus program “. And as if that were not enough, it is also, adds the Belgian newspaper, “the time of enlargement » (Portugal, Spain, Austria, Finland, Sweden). And then, “the time of German reunification » ; time, finally, “the beginnings of the euro “.
A character not unanimously accepted
And particularly not in Great Britain where, remembers Guardian“Delors regularly clashed with the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher “. To the point of becoming “the chief bogeyman of the British Eurosceptics “, until this burst of brilliance Sunwhich the British newspaper remembers: “ It was these relationships that led the tabloid to headline in 1990, “Delors, fuck off”. » In retrospect, believes Guardianit was “a taste of what would happen 25 years later during the Brexit campaign “.
In France either, Jacques Delors was not unanimous: “ You are not left enough for the Socialist Party », Former President François Mitterrand would have told him, thus recalling Release. Jacques Delors has, in fact, “ lost many friends left » with its austerity policies in the early 1980s. But it’s all a matter of points of view, since Le Figaro considers on the contrary that Delors was a “giant of the French left “.
In France, the story of a succession of failures
First, Jacques Delors was never Prime Minister. There were also these frequent standoffs with his own camp, he who, according to The weather“embodies rigor without qualms “.
And above all, there is what the Swiss newspaper, but also The eveningqualify as “missed appointment »: his renunciation of the presidential election of 1995. At the time, remembers Libéhe returned to France, “crowned with his record in Brussels » and “is seen as the only one on the left to have the stature of a statesman “. On this December 11, 1994, tells The evening“the whole country is suspended on television », while waiting for the obvious: the formalization of Jacques Delors’ candidacy. And yet: “It’s a cold shower. The prospective candidate gives up. And it is irrevocable. »
Because in reality, the Belgian newspaper believes, “of [la] left, he knows full well that he is only the candidate by default, he whose program is not frankly that defended by the socialists “. Because Jacques Delors wanted to clean up public finances, brutally if necessary. And then, perhaps, interprets The weatherWas Jacques Delors “ the man who feared getting his hands dirty “.
It was from this moment that, at the dawn of his 70th birthday, he gradually retreated into the shadows, collaborated with UNESCO, and created his think tank. Over time, recognizes the Swedish Zeitung« its influence has diminished “. This does not prevent the German newspaper from paying this last tribute: “Thank you, Mr. Euro. »