Jacques Delors led Europe out of the crisis and into a common currency. He was the most influential head of the EU Commission to date. However, his dream of giving the EU “a soul” remained unfulfilled.
Without Jacques Delors, this small, almost inconspicuous man, the euro would not exist today. And perhaps not even the internal market, the basis for Germany’s and Europe’s prosperity. For almost ten years, from 1985 to 1995, the Frenchman controlled the continent’s fortunes as President of the European Commission. No boss of the Brussels Eurocracy after him ever had as much influence as he did with the all-powerful EU heads of state and government. They awarded him – third after EU founding father Jean Monnet and Unity Chancellor Helmut Kohl – the title of “Honorary Citizen of Europe.” There was and is not a fourth European of this caliber.