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The former president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, considered the architect of the modern EU, passed away at the age of 98.
The news was given by his daughter. It helped create the single market by allowing the free movement of people, goods and services within the bloc.
Serving from 1985 to 1995, Delors also laid the foundations for the European common currency, the Euro. But for those skeptical of integration, particularly in the UK, it was seen as a symbol of Brussels' meddling.
A headline in the British tabloid "The Sun" once became famous for the words "Hands off, Delors".
Delors' daughter Martine Aubry said he died in his sleep on Wednesday morning at his home in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron praised Delors, who also served as French finance minister from 1981-1984, as a "statesman" and "indefatigable master of our Europe". "His dedication, ideals and justice will always inspire us. I salute his work and his memory and share the pain of his loved ones," Macron wrote. He served 3 terms as president of the European Commission, longer than anyone else.
Ursula von der Leyen, who currently holds the post, said he was "a visionary who made our Europe stronger". European Council President Charles Michel described him as a "great Frenchman and a great European" who "had gone down in history as one of the builders of our Europe".
A French socialist, he strongly believed in post-war integration. As well as the single market and the Euro, his tenure at the helm of the EU saw the creation of the Schengen travel agreement and the Erasmus student exchange programme. But for the UK's ruling Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher, moves towards a federal Europe were seen as anathema.
Thatcher described the 1989 Delors report calling for economic and monetary union as unacceptable because it would take too much economic policy out of the hands of the British Parliament. Lord Clarke of Nottingham, who like Kenneth Clarke served in Thatcher's cabinet, told BBC Radio 4's PM program that she shared Delors' vision of a single market but doubted he wanted political union, which she was. against.
"The truth was that Jacques Delors and Margaret Thatcher did not love each other personally. They hated each other for personal and political reasons," he added.
Former UK opposition leader Neil Kinnock told the program that he was a "very kind, quiet, very intelligent man, a problem solver" and not a "rabid federalist" as Thatcher tried to portray him. After leaving office in 1995, Delors declined to run for the French presidency, despite a large lead in the polls. He remained true to his federalist ideals. More recently, he warned of the dangers of populism in Europe, calling for bold moves in the run-up to Brexit.
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