The French president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors (born 1925) was former minister for the economy and finance of France. He was the chief architect of Western Europe's drive toward market unity by 1992.

The son of an employee of the French Central Bank, Jacques Delors was born in Paris on July 20, 1925. During his secondary school studies he went to two different schools: Lycée Voltaire (Paris) and Lycée Blaise-Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand). In 1943 Delors studied law at the University of Clermont-Ferrand. His studies were interrupted when the Germans closed the university in World War II. He was back in Paris in October, 1944, and soon found a job as an intern at the French Central Bank. In 1950 he was promoted to staff member for the director-general for securities and financial markets. During this period he became an active militant of a Christian trade union, the CFTC (Confé...