The plenary session will open with a short ceremony honouring the life and legacy of former Commission President Jacques Delors, who passed away on 27 December 2023. Delors was President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995 and was a crucial figure in the creation of the EU’s single market and the Economic and Monetary Union. Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, gives a statement during the ceremony.

statement

Strasbourg

plenary session

DELORS, Jacques (FR)

commemoration

Commemoration of Jacques Delors: Statement by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

SOUNDBITE (French), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Ladies and gentlemen, on the 27th of December 2023, Europe lost a political giant, a visionary, a pioneer. As President of the European Commission in January 1985, he stood here before this chamber, but this chamber wasn't new for him.

SOUNDBITE (French), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, On the occasion of the first public elections to the European Parliament in 1979, he was elected as a member of the European Parliament, where for two years he chaired the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. After having been Finance Minister in France between 1981 and 1984, Jacques Delors came to Europe at a time of instability across Europe. He saw an opportunity for Europe to unite in peace and democracy.

SOUNDBITE (French), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Jacques Delors believed in a Europe founded on stimulating competition, solidarity that joins and unites. He was a European visionary who had a very strong pragmatic spirit and a very strong sense of detail as well. History sees Jacques Delors, the main architect of this incredible decade of European integration. The European Union of today could never have existed without the huge impact that he had on this European Union.

SOUNDBITE (French), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Today, the European Union finds itself in an important stage of renew, reform and change. He's handed over the baton, but the vision of Jacques Delors continues for our quest to have a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Europe. And in honour of his memory, we preserve his legacy, and as a homage to Jacques Delors life and work, I would call on you to observe a minute's silence.

Minute's silence to remember Jacques Delors, died on the 27th of December 2023