Former EU Commission president , 98, dies

Jacques Delors, the former head of the EU Commission and one of the “architects” of the euros single currency died on Wednesday, according to French media.

According to Afp, the 98-year-old Delors died in his sleep at his Paris home on Wednesday, in quoting his daughter.

A veteran of French politics he served as finance minister under Francois Mitterrand from 1981 to 1984. He was European Commission president from 1985 to 1995, a period that witnessed a major leap in the Union’s integration. Delors was fondly remembered in Greece as well, with many of the Community funding schemes at the time being known colloquially as part of the “Delors package”.

The French news agency also reminded that Delors declined to run for president of France in 1995, “despite being overwhelmingly ahead in the polls, a decision he later put down to ‘a desire for independence that was too great’.”

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