How the spirit of Jacques Delors might be rekindled
As the EU mourns, what would Jacques do?
American evangelicals don bracelets adorned with the letters WWJD, “What would Jesus do”? EU officials, faithful to a calling of a different sort, have of late been pondering their own WWJD: “What would Jacques do?” The death of Jacques Delors on December 27th has had many in Brussels wondering how to recapture the aura of the messianic president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. In just a decade the Frenchman bequeathed to Europeans the single market, then laid the grounds for the euro and passport-free travel among other federalising milestones. After a national homage in Paris on January 5th, words once uttered by this latter-day founding father of the EU are being recited, psalm-like, to guide today’s euro-disciples. What would it take to recreate the conditions that got Europe lurching forward together?
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “What Jacques might have done now”
From the January 13th 2024 edition
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