Jacques Delors Quotes (22 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Jacques Delors: 22 quotes 0 likes

Famous Jacques Delors Quotes

“The Americans should stop insulting us, I'm not going to be an accomplice to the depopulation of the land. It's not up to the Americans to tell us how to organise our farm policy and the balance of our society. Their attitude is to treat the EC as if it had the plague and then encourage the rest of the world to join in.”

Jacques Delors

On American attitudes to the Common Agricultural Policy (7 December 1990), quoted in Charles Grant, Delors - Inside the House that Jacques Built (London: Nicholas Brearley, 1994), p. 172.

“Federalism is a guideline, not a pornographic word, you can speak it out loud…We have been focusing too much on a country that has said no, no, no!”

Jacques Delors

Speech in Maastricht (8 December 1991), quoted in Charles Grant, Delors - Inside the House that Jacques Built (London: Nicholas Brearley, 1994), p. 200.

“It is impossible to build Europe on only deregulation…1992 is much more than the creation of an internal market abolishing barriers to the free movement of goods services and investment…The internal market should be desgined to benefit each and every citizen of the Community. It is therefore necessary to improve workers' living and working conditions, and to provide better protection for their health and safety at work…Europe needs you.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the British Trades Union Congress (8 September 1988), quoted in The Independent (9 September 1988).

“My objective is that before the end of the millennium Europe should have a true federation. The Commission should become a political executive which can define essential common interests…responsible before the European Parliament and before the nation-states represented how you will, by the European Council or by a second chamber of national parliaments.”

Jacques Delors

Remarks on French television. (23 January 1990), quoted in Charles Grant, Delors - Inside the House that Jacques Built (London: Nicholas Brearley, 1994), p. 135.

“[Only federalism] allows democratic control and can punish abuses of power. Only federalism can guarantee respect for national character and regional variety. ... The springtime of Europe is still before us.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the European Parliament (19 January 1995), quoted in The Times (20 January 1995), p. 11
President of the European Commission

“The spirit of the Right is dominated by scepticism towards the possibility of profound change in society and above all towards the idea that man can achieve progress over himself. On the Left, on the other hand, there exists a belief in human and social progress.”

Jacques Delors

L'Unité d'un Homme (November 1994), quoted in The Times (21 November 1994), p. 11
President of the European Commission

Jacques Delors Quotes

“I have a passion for reform, for the progress of man and society. I cannot stand the feeling of being useless.”

Jacques Delors

L'Unité d'un Homme (November 1994), quoted in The Times (21 November 1994), p. 11
President of the European Commission

Passion , Feeling

“What is perceived as a cost by some will turn out to be the competitive advantage of Europe by helping maintain a well-trained, secure workforce, open to change.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to a Trades Union Congress conference in London (31 August 1994), quoted in The Times (1 September 1994), p. 25
President of the European Commission

Training , Help , Change

“Politicians who attack the dream of a federal Europe are racist bigots intent on undermining the Continent's freedom and peace.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the European Parliament (4 May 1994), quoted in The Times (5 May 1994), p. 1
President of the European Commission

Peace , Dreams , Freedom

“[Greek voices] must not only be heard claiming their due but also contributing to the European Union.”

Jacques Delors

On EU aid to Greece, quoted in The Times (21 December 1993), p. 13
President of the European Commission

“He thinks I am the man of the past but I am still here. He is the man of the past.”

Jacques Delors

Remarks on British Prime Minister John Major (28 September 1993), quoted in The Times (29 September 1993), p. 1
President of the European Commission

Past , Thinking

“Cars are free to circulate but still there are speed limits, therefore I do not see why, at the international level, we should not study ways to limit monetary movements. Bankers cannot act at will. ... Why should we not draw up some rules of the game?”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the European Parliament (17 September 1993), quoted in The Times (18 September 1993), p. 23
President of the European Commission

Drawing , Study , Game , Speed

“We must define the political Europe that we want. We must plead for the federal approach.”

Jacques Delors

Speech in Lorient (29 August 1993), quoted in The Times (30 August 1993), p. 11
President of the European Commission

“Farmers have their dignity, just as others do. It is fine to make efforts to make them react to markets, but you cannot then tie their hands and take away their choices. That is putting them in a straitjacket. ... I have always felt that the Community should be able to say 'No' to its big brother”

Jacques Delors

America

On GATT, quoted in The Times (16 October 1992), p. 9
President of the European Commission

Effort , Making love , Communication

“If we are really on the way towards a political entity with a common foreign policy on basic issues, then I consider that France's nuclear force should be available to serve that policy.”

Jacques Delors

On French television (5 January 1992), quoted in The Times (6 January 1992), p. 11
President of the European Commission

Way

“The crux is the reform of the treaty which would lead to common action. There must be a will to defend the central interests of Europe. If there is no majority voting, then the same level of impotence will continue.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the European Parliament (23 October 1991), quoted in The Times (24 October 1991), p. 14
President of the European Commission

“If we do not succeed with political union...then the historic decline of Europe which began with the First World War will resume.”

Jacques Delors

Interview with Der Spiegel, quoted in The Times (14 October 1991), p. 1
President of the European Commission

World , War

“The social and human balance of our societies depend on the farming world.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the European Parliament (23 January 1991), quoted in The Times (24 January 1991), p. 13
President of the European Commission

World , Dependency

“My feeling is that we will not be able to take all the decisions which will be necessary from now until 1995 unless there is the embryo of a European government in one form or another.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the European Parliament (6 July 1988), quoted in The Times (7 July 1988), p. 1
President of the European Commission

Feeling , Decision

“Socialism was not the socialization of losses and the privatization of profits.”

Jacques Delors

Speech (26 June 1981), quoted in The Times (27 June 1981), p. 17
French Minister of Finance

Loss

“Europe is a commercial giant and an economic power of the first rank, but it is a political dwarf. Political cooperation in the Community will grow. The question is whether the supply services will follow.”

Jacques Delors

Speech to the press (3 December 1980), quoted in The Times (4 December 1980), p. 5
Member of the European Parliament

Question , Communication

“Europe needs an army to fight the resource wars of the twenty-first century.”

Jacques Delors

Variations of this have circulated among Irish and left-wing Eurosceptic groups. Delors explicitly denied making any such statement in 1992 and 1998 in the leadup to Irish referendums on the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties. Commentators have found no evidence for it.
Attributions:
[Facing the threat of Brussels rule at our expense, https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1991/1121/Pg014.html#Ar01400, 30 July 2019, The Irish Times, 21 November 1991, 14, subscription, Anthony, Coughlan]
[Proinsias, de Rossa, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1991-11-29/3/#para_191, 29 November 1991, Dáil Éireann debates, Maastricht Summit: Motion]
[Maastricht and neutrality : Ireland's neutrality and the future of Europe, John, Maguire, Joe, Noonan, 1992, Cork, People First/Meitheal, 19–20]
[Fox, Carol, Gearing up, 25554848, Fortnight, 1994, 334, 11–12: 12, 0141-7762]
[Joe, Higgins, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1997-10-16/24/#para_608, 16 October 1997, Dáil Éireann debates, Amsterdam Treaty: Statements (Resumed)]
Edward, Spalton, 4 July 2004, (Letter) Fashion statement, Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3608033/Fashion-statement.html,
John, Boyd, Campaign Against European Federalism, Europe for Peace Conference, Manchester, 5 March 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20070809083941/http://www.gmdcnd.org.uk/events/europeconference/amC.htm,
[Gibson, Dirk C., Commercial Space Tourism: Impediments to Industrial Development and Strategic Communication Solutions, 2012, Bentham Science Publishers, 9781608052394, 12, https://books.google.ie/books?id=hSkW9TW3omEC&pg=PA12, 21 July 2019]
The European Alliance of EU-critical Movements, EU Counter Summit Statement, London, 7 November 2015 http://teameurope.co/statements.html,
[The financial cost of signing up to PESCO, https://people.ie/news/PN-178.pdf, People's News, People's Movement, Dublin, 178, 20 December 2017]
Morning Star, Macron calls for joint EU army project to step up a gear, 27 August 2018 https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/macron-calls-joint-eu-army-project-step-gear,
Refutations:
The Irish Times, subscription, 12 June 1992, 12, Colm, Boland, 'Interference' by Delors denounced https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1992/0612/Pg007.html#Ar00701,
[30001811, Ireland's Foreign Relations in 1992, Patrick, Keatinge, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 4, 1993, 72 [footnote]]
McKenna's case not a Euromyth, 15 May 1998, Patrick, Smyth, The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mckenna-s-case-not-a-euromyth-1.152890,
Misattributed