Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission, has died

5 mins

Jacques Delors was Minister of Economy and Finance for only three years, between May 1981 and July 1984. However, this social democrat has probably influenced the economic policy of current France more than many ministers with multiple portfolios. As recently as 2011, he was named by a panel of French people as having been the best big moneyman of the previous three decades.

The turning point of rigor

In the French political landscape of the 20th century, Jacques Delors thus occupies a very special place. He could, the French believe in 1995, have been President of the Republic, he was in any case given favorite against Jacques Chirac. “ Jacques, do your duty ! “, we even heard during the congress of the Socialist Party of Liévin in 1994. But his marginal position within the left made him give up running for president because he did not think he could form a majority to carry out its policy.

The French, it is well known, have short memories. However, it was Jacques Delors who in 1983 administered a very bitter potion by making the country take a turn towards rigor. The remedies recommended at the time closely resemble those prescribed by Francois Hollande, at the beginning of 2014, even if the context is very different – ​​at the time of Delors, France had barely more than a million unemployed people. There are even rumors that Jacques Delors would have whispered in the ear of the former socialist president.

It was in 1983 that Jacques Delors came to whistle the end of the generous social measures for which Mitterrand was elected. Prices and wages are frozen. Exit the thirty-year policy of indexing salaries to prices, make way for the austerity plan and liberal openness. Both inflation and the trade deficit have been divided by three in three years. The business community is delighted, but the popular class which brought Mitterrand to power feels cheated.

Union unity in the crosshairs

Born July 20, 1925, Jacques Delors started out, like his father, at the Banque de France in 1945, where he continued his studies while working. A practicing Catholic, he confided to his biographer, Gabriel Milesi, that he hesitated to become a priest “ to the point of losing sleep “. He became involved in trade unionism with the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC) which propelled him to the Economic and Social Council then to the General Planning Commission.

Trade unionism, with European construction, will be the great affair of his life. Very reserved, not very keen on nostalgia, he still allowed himself to evoke a shadow of regret in 1994: “ If I were 35 or 40 (he was 69), I would devote myself to one thing: union unity », he agreed to say. He saw it as an essential safeguard against the omnipotence of Monetary Policy.

His first direct contact with the political world took place in 1969: he joined the cabinet of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, the new Prime Minister. He, the man on the left, moves to the right. For many of his friends, it is a betrayal. “ I had to choose between a certain loyalty to who I am and efficiency “, he justifies himself. Forty years later, Jacques Delors liked to remember having largely inspired the 1971 law on professional training, a text that is still relevant today. In 1973, in disagreement with the government, he left to teach at the university (1974-79).

Jacques Delors joined the Socialist Party in 1974, after a brief one-month stint with the Unified Socialist Party (PSU) chaired by Michel Rocard. He was elected European deputy in 1979 and chaired the Economic and Monetary Commission until May 1981. In the 1983 municipal elections, he was elected mayor of Clichy, in the Paris suburbs, a mandate which he had to renounce in 1985 for incompatibility with the European presidency. .

Europe again and always

This film buff and jazz lover changed register and tempo from January 1985. Until December 1994, Jacques Delors served three terms as President of the European Commission. He has the rank of head of state and his attachment to negotiation and valuable compromise, acquired in trade unionism, applies here on a large scale.

His long time at the head of Europe was marked by the enlargement of the European Community, the adoption of the Single European Act, the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAPassociated with the creation of the European Program for aid to the most deprived), the signing of agreements Schengen and the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.

Europe will remain for Jacques Delors the key to all battles. Although retired from political life since 1995, he intervenes regularly, notably through Notre Europe-Jacques Delors Institutea think tank that he founded in 1996. In 2010, he joined the Spinelli Group which informally brings together elected officials in favor of federalism within the European Union in the European Parliament.

Jacques Delors married Marie Lephaille in 1948, a Basque with a personality as strong as she was generous. The couple had two children, Martine Aubry (née Delors), former first secretary of the Socialist Party (2008-2012), former Minister of Labor (1991-1993) and mayor of Lille, and a journalist son at Release, Jean Pauldied of leukemia at the age of 29 in 1982.