In global politics, Jacques Delors was a towering figure. His political ambitions in France were stymied because François Mitterrand thought there was “too much of the sacristy about him”. Delors was a devout Catholic.
So, rather than the prime minister’s office, he was sent instead to the European Commission as president. When he arrived in Brussels in 1985, the Commission was close to moribund. But Delors seized his opportunity.
Under his watch the Europe was transformed, much to the distress of rabid English nationalists – forgetful that Margaret Thatcher had endorsed his appointment.
The Tory right ignore it today, but the so-called Iron Lady was one of the strongest supporters of Delors’s greatest achievement, the Single Market.
Delors was a man ahead of his time, an intellectual giant (now so rare in politics) and a visionary. Had Delors fully achieved his vision of a united Europe, the world would arguably be in a much better place today.
His vision was for a Europe strong enough to play a meaningful role in global politics alongside the United States, Russia and China. Speaking with one voice, Europe, once divided, would be able to make a compelling case that ancient enmities can be put aside for the common good.
The list of his achievements is remarkable: the single market, the Euro, the Erasmus education exchange programme, and support for those areas of Europe which were among the most disadvantaged.
John Hume, another great European in the Delors mould, recognised that, and played it for all it was worth in his negotiations with Sinn Féin. It was a paradigm shift in the politics of this place and key to neutralising the border because, with the exception of the myopic cabal that is the DUP, there was no border
But it is his contribution as a peace-maker that will be his lasting legacy. When we talk about the Good Friday Agreement, and celebrate the politicians who brought it about, we tend to omit Delors from the list. Yet, without him, it is inconceivable that the agreement would have happened.
His Europe provided the context for getting ourselves out of the constitutional quagmire. Sovereignty is very different in a political arrangement where there are no borders or barriers to free movement. And that is what Delors’s single market had achieved.
John Hume, another great European in the Delors mould, recognised that, and played it for all it was worth in his negotiations with Sinn Féin. It was a paradigm shift in the politics of this place and key to neutralising the border because, with the exception of the myopic cabal that is the DUP, there was no border.
The European Peace Package of 1994, pushed through by Delors at Maastricht, was one of many European initiatives designed to underwrite the peace process, and demonstrate to people in marginalised areas – unionist and nationalist – that there were ways in which the lives of their communities could transcend the grip of paramilitarism.
Europe also helped undo much of the damage done by successive British governments – to infrastructure, community and cultural development, and the economy.
Delors saw the achievement of peace in Ireland as one of Europe’s greatest goals, and one of its greatest achievements.
He must have been distraught towards the end of a long life of public service, to see the wilful damage inflicted on that achievement by the little Englanders of the Tory right who lied their way out of Europe, reigniting the border question, and stopping the free movement of people and goods.
It is not hyperbole to say that Delors made a bigger contribution to this place, than many elected to look after its interests.
He certainly had a greater understanding of the complexities of our politics than many of the useless secretaries and ministers of state who have been sent here in the decades since the UK government finally admitted Northern Ireland was a failed experiment.
Northern Ireland may have been unlucky with the calibre of many of those who have dominated its politics, the loud mouths and incompetents. You know who I mean.
But it has not been unlucky in its friends; and among its greatest was Jacques Delors – a man who had much to do for millions across this sprawling continent, but a man prepared to devote his time and energy to the achievement of a lasting peace.
We must continue to nurture his legacy.
