With the passing of the great European Jacques Delors (1925-2023), the Historical Archives of the European Union joins the many individuals and institutions paying homage to the dedicated and visionary architect of Europe. Delors, who served France as a high-level civil servant and was Minister for Economy and Finance under the socialist presidency of François Mitterrand (1981-1984), was President of the European Commission for three consecutive terms (1985-1995).
Not only does the Archives honour Jacques Delors’ accomplishments in and contributions to public service and the building of the European Community, but it also acknowledges the leader’s contribution to the preservation of Europe’s history. Thanks to a partnership agreement signed between the HAEU and the Jacques Delors Institut in 2015, researchers and the public may consult the private Jacques Delors collection at the HAEU, where numerous files relating to the duties assumed in Brussels by the President of the College of Commissioners were digitized and inventoried.
The Jacques Delors fonds have evoked a continuous and high level of interest among archival scholars since its opening. The reports on diplomatic meetings are among the more frequently consulted documents in the collection, most likely due to their insights into Delors’ activities while head of the Commission. Moreover, within the framework of its cooperation with the Delors Institute, the HAEU also holds the collections of Delors’ former head of cabinet, Pascal Lamy, and his legal advisor François Lamoureux. Delors’ former deputy head of cabinet and adviser on foreign relations, Günter Burghardt, also deposited his papers at the Archives in Florence. Together, these documents make a significant contribution to defining the role played by Jacques Delors and his entire team in the institutional and intellectual leap that European integration took at the time—an economic and political legacy at least partially preserved in the documentary heritage made accessible by the Delors Institute together with the Historical Archives of the European Union.
Photo: Jacques Delors addresses the 7th European Trade Union Confederation Congress, Luxembourg, 13 May 1991, photographer unknown. (HAEU ETUC-04-74)