this missed meeting of the 1995 presidential election

After several months of suspense, and while he is leading the polls on the left, this figure of European construction surprised the French live on television.

The disappearance of ainexhaustible craftsman of our Europe“: Emmanuel Macron, like many French and European political leaders, salutes the memory of Jacques Delors, architect of European construction and father of the euro. The former president of the European Commission died in his 99th year, “this morning (Wednesday) at his Parisian home in his sleep“, announced to AFP his daughter Martine Aubry, socialist mayor of Lille.

If, until the end, he defended the unity of Europe, calling in March 2020 on the heads of state and government of the EU for more solidarity at a time when the latter were struggling over a common response to bring to the Covid-19 pandemic, in France, he stunned left-wing voters one evening in December 1994.

“A more balanced lifestyle between reflection and action”

This Sunday, December 11, 1994, after six months of suspense, it was on the set of “7 sur 7” by Anne Sinclair that Jacques Delors puts an end to the suspense live on television in front of 13 million viewers: “I have decided not to be a candidate for President of the Republic“, he blurted, reading notes, a rare thing for him, slipping that “it’s too important“.

“I will reach 70 years old, I have worked tirelessly for 50 years and it is more reasonable, in these conditions, to consider a lifestyle more balanced between reflection and action“, he declared, his blue eyes drooping in front of the camera. Yet he is leading the polls, the hopes of the left are immediately dashed.

“He brings everyone out, including the managers of TF1. And he says to me: ‘I’m not going’, remembers Anne Sinclair on franceinfo. At that moment, I felt the blow as a citizen because I wanted his candidacy.”

28 years later, Olivier Faure, the current first secretary of the Socialist Party, does not want to repeat history, as he tells franceinfo: “He wanted to first carry his convictions before being a man of power. It also made him give up on what he thought was a pointless test because he feared not having a majority. He didn’t want to be a puppet president.“

“I’m not saying I was right.”

Emmanuel Macron, today in power without an absolute majority, salutes his commitment, his ideals and his righteousness. For François Hollande, Jacques Delors was the reference for French social democracy. Despite his renunciation, he, according to him, succeeded in getting the left moving again at a time when it was in great difficulty. “The fact that he is high in the polls, the very fact that he could be seen as being able to beat the favorite, Édouard Balladur at the time… All this has made the left regain confidence, even if he gave up. It was a wake-up call for the left and forced it to put itself in good order. Finally, it was Lionel Jospin who picked up the baton, who was able to carry this hope and who made it possible to achieve a very honorable score in the presidential election of 1995, then this victory in the legislative elections of 1997. All this is due, indirectly, to what Jacques Delors did.analyzed the former head of state, Wednesday December 28 on franceinfo.

“That day I gave up politics“, Jacques Delors would later say. “I have no regrets, but I’m not saying I was right” he confided in Point in 2021. “I was too concerned about independence, and I felt different from those around me. My way of doing politics was not the same”. His political career then stalled and it was almost as a simple activist that Jacques Delors continued his fights from the mid-90s.