EU leaders pay final tribute to Jacques Delors

European leaders joined French President Emmanuel Macron in a final tribute to a towering figure in European politics.

Transcript

00:00 EU leaders have joined the French president in a solemn tribute to Jacques Delors in Paris

00:05 ahead of his funeral. The late EU commissioner, a founding father of the modern union, died

00:11 on December 27 at the age of 98. Emmanuel Macron led the ceremony at the historic Le

00:17 Invalides monument. He spoke of Delors` journey from local French politics to the pinnacle

00:23 of European power.

00:24 Jacques Delors never got tired of exploring to reconcile, to shed light, to create alternatives,

00:37 to build bridges, always walking towards this immutable horizon that was above all else,

00:44 human dignity.

00:45 The ode to joy rang out as the bloc`s current leaders bid their final farewells to a figure

00:51 many regarded as a European visionary. Delors was a firm believer in closer EU integration

00:58 and helped pave the way for transformational developments, including the single market,

01:03 the EU currency and the expansion of the union beyond Western Europe.

01:07 -END-

01:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]