Death of Jacques Delors: why did he withdraw from the 1995 presidential election? Jacques Attali's analysis

Interview by Lionel Gougelot 10:30 a.m., December 28, 2023

The death of Jacques Delors, who died on Wednesday at the age of 98, has shocked the entire continent. In the aftermath of his death, European leaders paid tribute to a great builder, President of the European Commission and former minister under François Mitterrand. He will also remain the man of a political coup de théâtre: in 1994, and while he was the favourite, he gave up running in the presidential election of the following year. The announcement was made on television during the 7 sur 7 program, hosted by Anne Sinclair.

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Jacques Delors never envied the post of head of state, Jacques Attali, former special adviser to President François Mitterrand, told Europe 1 radio.

"He had the feeling that the French would not have wanted a policy of major reforms"

"I talked a lot about it with François Mitterrand, who summed it up very well: 'Don't delude yourself, Jacques Delors has no desire to be elected President of the Republic, he wants to be appointed'. Jacques Delors had a lot of trouble with universal suffrage, because he was first and foremost a high official and a servant of the Republic."

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Faced with Anne Sinclair, Jacques Delors had assured that he "would not have the means to implement his policy". According to Jacques Attali, this can be explained by the fact that "he had the feeling that, as always when he had been minister, that the French would not have wanted a policy of major reforms, a policy of effort that was necessary. Unfortunately, Jacques Chirac did not accomplish it, neither in his first nor in his second term," said the former special adviser to François Mitterrand.