The reluctance of France and Great Britain kept the commitment to political unity and the ambition of a United States of Europe weak. Yet four countries – Austria, Norway, Finland and Sweden – joined the union under Mr Delors’ presidency.
Mr. Delors married Marie Lephaille in 1948. She died in 2020. Their son, Jean-Paul, died of leukemia in 1982. Their daughter, Ms. Aubry, is a prominent socialist politician and longtime mayor of Lille , a city in the north of the country. France. Besides her, Mr. Delors’ survivors include a granddaughter.
Towards the end of his term, Mr Delors was increasingly seen as arrogantly determined to strengthen the European Union’s power over its member states. Critics say the rise of a school of Eurosceptic politicians in France, Britain and Denmark in the 1990s was a reaction to his excesses and part of his legacy.
However, it remained popular in France. In 1994, he refused to run for president, even though polls placed him comfortably ahead of Jacques Chirac, the eventual winner.
He was also held up, nostalgically, as a model of leadership by some in Europe during the depths of the euro crisis.
“If Delors were in charge in Europe, Mitterrand in France and Kohl in Germany,” said Theodoros Pangalos, Greek deputy prime minister, in 2010, “things would not be the same.”
Paul Lewisformer European correspondent for The Times, died in 2022. Landon Thomas, Aurélien Breeden and Herbert Buchsbaum contributed to this report.
