Jacques Delors

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Jacques Delors

Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (born July 20, 1925 in Paris ) is a French politician of the Socialist Party of France (PS) . He was France's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance from 1981 to 1984 and Mayor of Clichy in 1983 and 1984 . As one of the most prominent and influential European politicians , he was President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995 and was instrumental in deepening European integration .

Political career

After serving in the European Parliament for two years from 1979 to 1981 , he took over the post of French Minister of Economics and Finance in the Mauroy cabinet from 1981 to 1984 , under President François Mitterrand , who was elected in 1981. During this time he was responsible for a short-lived experiment of socialist economic policy in a market economy. From 1985 to 1995 Delors was President of the EC Commission and chaired three commissions ( Delors I , II and III ). During this time he explicitly put the need for a social policy of the European Union on the agenda. In this context, the Community Charter of Basic Social Rights of Workers was adopted in 1989 and the Social Protocol in 1992 .

In 1989, unlike many skeptical top politicians in France, he spoke out in favor of German reunification .

Delors renounced a presidential candidacy in 1995 to succeed François Mitterrand; he had been considered the most promising candidate for the Parti Socialiste. Connected with this was his withdrawal from daily French politics.

After Jean Monnet (1888–1979), Delors is probably the most influential European politician in his active time .

Services to the EU internal market process

European integration made great strides under his leadership . His presidency ended over a decade of Euroscepticism and the stagnation of the integration process (" Eurosclerosis "). Delors has "brought the community out of a deep crisis" and "has set it on a new track with the internal market and monetary union". His presidency included the reforms of the Single European Act (EEA) 1986, the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the reform and reorientation of the Commission and Community policy (Delors package) in 1988.

The 1985 White Paper on the Internal Market

Delors with Franz Josef Strauss

On Delors' initiative, the Commission published a white paper (so-called Internal Market Primer) in which 300 (later reduced to 282) legislative measures necessary for the implementation of the internal market were listed. This program goes back to the so-called Delors package, which the then President of the Commission presented to the EP in his inaugural address in Strasbourg in January 1985, eight days after he took office. At the beginning, Delors asked in one sentence: "Is it presumptuous to announce the decision and then implement it to remove all intra-Community borders by 1992?" The proposed measures included:

  • Elimination of personal and goods controls at the internal EC borders (e.g. relocation of controls to production, standardization of veterinary law)
  • Mutual recognition of numerous product norms and food standards and their harmonization
  • Removal of tax barriers that existed due to different VAT and consumption taxes
  • EC-wide opening of public procurement markets (for government contracts from DM 10 million)
  • Far-reaching market opening and liberalization (e.g. insurance and transport industry)
  • Elimination of state monopolies (e.g. post).

The White Paper contained a timetable and named 31 December 1992 as the end date for the completion of the internal market. This program was approved with the “magic date” in 1992 at the Milan Summit (mid-1985) by the Council of the ten-member community at the time.

Single European Act, approximation of laws, Delors report and Maastricht Treaty

With the adoption of the Single European Act (EEA) in 1986, the Treaty of Rome was reformed for the first time and the foundations for the completion of the internal market were laid. In parallel to the EEA treaty reform, the commission headed by Delors carried out the goal of realizing the internal market by means of a large European legislative process with subsequent implementation by member states. By the end of 1992 most of these Commission proposals had been adopted. The implementation of the 282 proposals by means of guidelines was sustainably supported by the EEA treaty reform that came into force on July 1, 1987, which introduced a qualified majority for this policy area. These internal market efforts sparked a new dynamic within the EC, which to this day paints the image of Delors' drive and determination as one of the outstanding Commission presidents. Under Delors, the commission gained "new authority".

In June 1989, Delors presented a three-step plan - without any time limits - for the establishment of economic and monetary union . This was preceded by the mandate ("to examine and propose concrete stages for the realization of this Union") by an expert group chaired by Delors as Commission President by the European Council in June 1988. The initiative goes back to Delors. On the basis of the Delors report, the European Council in Madrid in 1989 decided that the first stage of monetary union would come into force on July 1, 1990. The report later became the basis for the design of EMU in the Maastricht Treaty , which also set specific dates for the individual Steps met.

In 1992, after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in a changed situation in Europe, the next major European treaty followed under Delors' presidency, the Maastricht Treaty .

Memberships (selection)

Jacques Delors is a member of the Club of Rome and on the board of trustees of the A Soul for Europe initiative . He is also a member of the Spinelli Group , working for the European federalism sets in, and directs the think tank Notre Europe , which together with the Hertie School of Governance , the Jacques Delors Institute funded in Berlin, a Europe think tank .

honors and awards

In 1990 Delors was awarded the Hans Böckler Prize . On February 1, 1991, the Bavarian Prime Minister Max Streibl awarded him the Bavarian Order of Merit . In 1992 he received the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen . In 1993 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland . He also received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Science at the Ruhr University in Bochum and from the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (May 12, 1994). In 1995 he was awarded the European Charles V Prize of the European Academy by Yuste in Spain, in 1996 the Great Golden Decoration of Honor on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria and the Carlo Schmid Foundation's sponsorship award . In 2010 Delors was the first to receive the Leonardo European Corporate Learning Award . In 2015 he was made an honorary citizen of Europe .

Private

Delors is the father of Martine Aubry and Jean-Paul Delors.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kocher, Eva: European Labor Law, 1st edition, Baden-Baden 2016, § 1 Rn. 43.
  2. ↑ Kocher, Eva: European Labor Law, 1st edition, Baden-Baden 2016, § 1 Rn. 43 f ..
  3. ↑ europarltv.europa.eu .
  4. ↑ Jacqueline Hénard: Jospin's determined hesitation. In: Die Zeit , May 31, 2001.
  5. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Wagener, Thomas Eger, Heiko Fritz: European integration, law and economy, history and politics. Munich 2006, p. 192.
  6. ↑ The moment of truth is yet to come. In: The time. No. 28, July 5, 1985.
  7. ↑ Art. 14 (1) EC (Nice / Amsterdam) [ex Art. 7a EC, Maastricht]: "The Community shall take the necessary measures to gradually implement the internal market by December 31, 1992 in accordance with this article."
  8. ↑ Art. 95 EC (Amsterdam / Nice), ex Art. 189 EC (Maastricht), since VvL (December 1, 2009) Art. 114 TFEU.
  9. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Wagener, Thomas Eger, Heiko Fritz: European integration, law and economy, history and politics. Vahlen, Munich 2006, pp. 84, 192f.
  10. ^ Hans-Jürgen Wagener , Thomas Eger , Heiko Fritz: European integration: law and economy, history and politics. Vahlen, Munich 2006, p. 84.
  11. ↑ Art. 105–124 EG old version, now (since December 1, 2009 by VvL) Art. 127–133 TFEU.
  12. ^ Prize winners of the Hans Böckler Prize. ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Boeckler.de , February 13, 2014.
  13. ↑ Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 23 czerwca 1993 r. o nadaniu orderów. Retrieved August 27, 2019 .
  14. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  15. ↑ Leonardo Award.
  16. ↑ Jacques Delors becomes “Honorary Citizen of Europe” , NZZ of June 26, 2015.

literature

Web links

Commons : Jacques Delors  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Delors, Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Delors, Jacques Lucien Jean (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Socialist Party politician, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris