PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron presided over a national tribute to Jacques Delors, former minister and ex-president of the European Commission, on Thursday in the main courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, praising his talents as a conciliator and its “humanist, European way”.
A figure in French and European political life, Jacques Delors died on December 27 at the age of 98, a death which sparked a shower of tributes to the memory of a “fighter for human justice” who presided over the European Commission from 1985 to 1995.
In his funeral eulogy, Emmanuel Macron returned to the journey of this son of Corrèze who was not destined for politics and yet held “the project of a continent in his hands”, to the point of leaving “a French imprint and European.
“Jacques Delors helped to draw the face of today’s Europe, line by line,” declared the president, who spoke in front of numerous French and European political figures.
Among those present were Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank and Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market.
“His path was not interrupted. No, Jacques Delors just passed the baton to us and many of you here have taken over and continued with your fights at the head of our European institutions,” said the French president .
European leaders also made the trip, such as Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Belgian counterparts Alexander de Croo, Slovenian Robert Golob, and Bulgarian Nikolai Denkov.
Most of them were then due to have lunch at the Elysée.
Around a hundred young beneficiaries of the European Erasmus program, created under the leadership of Jacques Delors, were present at Les Invalides.
Former French President François Hollande and many ex-Prime Ministers such as Lionel Jospin, Edouard Philippe and Jean Castex were also in the audience, as were members of the current government of Elisabeth Borne amid rumors of a reshuffle. more and more pressing.
Emmanuel Macron was keen to highlight during his speech the conciliatory qualities of Jacques Delors, who joined the Socialist Party in 1974, and his concern for “social dialogue beyond political opposition”.
“Jacques Delors did not believe in the Great Evening, he believed in patient dawns, in negotiation throughout the days, in social dialogue beyond political opposition,” said the head of state.
PORTRAIT-Jacques Delors, the European who did not want the Elysée
(Written by Kate Entringer, with Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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