2023-12-27 17:23:58
Former EU Commission President Jacques Delors is dead. His daughter Martine Aubry announced this to the AFP news agency on Wednesday. The French socialist headed the Brussels authority from 1985 to 1995 and was considered the driving force behind the largest integration steps in the history of European unification: the completion of the European internal market in 1992 and the founding of the European Union in 1993. Delors was 98 years old.
“He died in his sleep this morning in his home in Paris,” said the socialist politician Aubry on Wednesday. Delors began his European political career in 1979, as one of the first MEPs elected by direct popular vote. From 1981 to 1984 he was French Minister of Economy and Finance before taking over the leadership of the European Commission in 1985. On his initiative, the Brussels authorities published a white paper on the internal market, which, among other things, provided for the abolition of personal and goods controls within the then European Economic Community (EEC), the elimination of state monopolies and tax barriers to cross-border competition.
To implement these measures, the Single European Act (EEA) was adopted in 1986 by the then twelve EC members. Six years later, another important integration step followed with the Maastricht Treaty, which provided for the introduction of a common currency. Delors’ term of office also saw the creation of the European Economic Area (EEA) with the EFTA states (including Austria) in 1994 and Austria’s accession to the EU in 1995.
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