Ex Italian premier, former head of
the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and current president of
the Paris-based Jacques Delors Institute Enrico Letta said after
the death at 98 of the former longtime European Commission
president that "Modern Europe today loses its founding father.
"We mourn his passing, we bow before his moral force and
authority, we shall carry forward with still greater commitment
his ideas".
Delors served as the eighth president of the European Commission
from 1985 to 1995.
As President, Delors was the most visible and influential leader
in European affairs. He implemented the policies that closely
linked the member nations together and promoted the need for
unity. He created a single market that made the free movement of
persons, capital, goods, and services within the European
Economic Community (EEC) possible.
He also headed the so-called Delors Committee which proposed the
monetary union to create the Euro, the new single currency to
replace individual national currencies.
This was achieved by the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in
1992.
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