Due to reluctance in France and Great Britain, commitment to political unity and the desired United States of Europe remained weak. Nevertheless, four countries – Austria, Norway, Finland and Sweden – joined the union during Mr Delors' presidency.
Mr. Delors married Marie Lephaille in 1948. She died in 2020. Her son Jean-Paul died of leukemia in 1982. Her daughter, Ms. Aubry, is a prominent socialist politician and long-time mayor of Lille, a city in northern France. In addition to her, Mr. Delors' survivors also include a granddaughter.
Towards the end of his term in office, Mr Delors was increasingly perceived as an arrogant bent on increasing the European Union's power over its member states. Critics say the rise of a school of Eurosceptic politicians in France, Britain and Denmark in the 1990s was a reaction to his dominance and part of his legacy.
However, he remained popular in France. In 1994, he declined to run for president, even though polls showed him well ahead of Jacques Chirac, the eventual winner.
Even in the depths of the euro crisis, he was wistfully viewed by some in Europe as a model of leadership.
“If Delors were in charge in Europe, Mitterrand in France and Kohl in Germany,” Theodoros Pangalos, the deputy prime minister of Greece, said in 2010, “things would not be the same.”
Paul Lewis, a former Times European correspondent, died in 2022. Landon Thomas, Aurelien Breeden and Herbert Buchsbaum contributed reporting.