Jacques Delors' time
as President of the European Commission (1885-1995) was a period which saw great
changes and unprecedented development towards European Union.
Born in Paris in 1925,
Delors immediately entered the world of finance working in the Banque de France.
He deeply engaged in trade union movement and rose to prominence as a Christian
activist. He joined Socialist Part. As a Socialist candidate, he was elected to
the European Parliament in 1979 and appointed chairman of the Monetary Affairs
Committee.
When Socialist Party
came to power and Mitterrand became president in 1981, Delors was appointed
Finance Minister.
His term as President
began in 1985. He was the single most influential President of the European
Union to date. Under Delors, an Intergovernmental Conference resulted in the
signing of the Single European Act (SEA) in 1986. Then in the so-called Paquet
Delors, he proposed budgetary reforms and changes to structural fund
distribution.
After the approval of
the Paquet Delors, Delors started to focus on the subject of Economic and
Monetary Union, producing a three stage scheme that was eventually ratified as
part of the Maastricht Treaty.
His final years in the
post were marked by severe difficulties within the Union: the rejection of the
Maastricht Treaty following the Danish referendum in June 1992, and the crisis
in the European Monetary System that caused that plans for Monetary Union were
delayed.
His term as President
ended in January 1995.
Juan
Carlos Ocaña
