Jacques Delors – Keynote Speaker

Known as the architect of the Single European Act, the first modification of the Treaty of Rome, and of the ambitious reform of funding for the European Community, Jacques Delors is one of the most influential politicians in the formation of Europe in the Nineties. He is a graduate in economics, with a diploma from the Centre for Higher Banking Studies.

Jacques Delors became the president of the European Commission in 1985. During his time at the head of the Commission, there was a major development of its major structures. This included the reinforcement of European Community financial systems (the White Paper for a single internal market), the signing of the treaty of adhesion with Spain and Portugal, and the creation of the Euro as the single European currency.

He was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance in François Mitterand’s first government in 1981. He also served as the Mayor of Cliché Marcha in 1993.

On 15 September 2010 Delors supported the new initiative Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate the strive for federalisation of the European Union (EU). Other prominent supporters are: Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Sylvie Goulard, Andrew Duff, Elmar Brok. In 2010, Delors was the first to be honored with the Leonardo European Corporate Learning Award.

On 25 June 2015, Donald Tusk announced that Delors would become the third person ever to have the title of Honorary Citizen of Europe bestowed upon them, in recognition of “his remarkable contribution to the development of the European project”