Jacques Delors, architect of the modern EU and ‘Mr. Europe,’ dies aged 98

Jacques Delors, who transformed Europe in his momentous decade as chief executive of the European Union's executive branch, has died in Paris

BRUSSELS -- Jacques Delors, a Paris bank messenger’s son who became the visionary and builder of a more unified Europe in his momentous decade as chief executive of the European Union, has died in Paris, the Delors Institute think tank told The Associated Press Wednesday. He was 98.

For many, the owlish but hard-driving Socialist and Catholic was simply “Mr. Europe.” The EU, which stretches these days from Finland to Portugal and is home to more than 500 million people, was dubbed “the house that Jacques built" by a popular biography.

Under his 1985-1995 tenure at the head of the European Union’s bureaucracy in Brussels, member countries agreed to tear down barriers that prevented the free movement of capital, goods, services and people.

Delors was also key in drawing up the blueprint for economic and monetary union, which led to the creation of the European Central Bank and the euro currency.

The latter, considered by many to be Delors’ masterpiece, is now official tender for 20 of the 27 EU nations.