Former socialist minister, right arm of Pierre Mauroy and deputy mayor of Dunkirk (North), Michel Delebarre died at the age of 75, the mayors of Dunkirk and Lille announced on Saturday April 9. “Michel Delebarre left us this morning (…) Michel Delebarre will have led many projects that still mark our daily lives”announced the mayor of Dunkirk, Patrice Vergriete, on his Facebook account, confirming information from The voice of the North. The socialist mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, confirmed this death to AFP.
Michel Delebarre died in Lille, where he had been hosted in an Ehpad for several months, “very weakened” notably by severe diabetes, PS senator from the North, Patrick Kanner, told AFP.
Born in Bailleul (Nord) on April 27, 1946, he entered politics alongside Pierre Mauroy, for whom he was chief of staff at the town hall of Lille and then at Matignon, before being appointed Minister of Labor in 1984. on the arrival of Laurent Fabius as Prime Minister. He continues with six other ministerial portfolios until 1993 (Social Affairs and Employment, Transport, Equipment or even the first Ministry of the City, under Michel Rocard).
Mayor of Dunkirk from 1989 to 2014, he was a Member of Parliament for a dozen years, and President of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Regional Council from 1998 to 2001. He also had responsibilities within the European Union , as President of the Committee of the Regions, a consultative body bringing together the territorial authorities of the European Union, between 2006 and 2008.
This geography graduate had been indicted in January 1997 in the Elysée wiretapping affair, as Pierre Mauroy’s chief of staff and as such responsible for the interministerial control group (GIC), responsible for “security interceptions”. The former minister had admitted in this context to having authorized certain illegal tapping. He had been convicted in 2005 but released from the sentence.