Jacques Delors - Delors Commission

Delors Commission

Delors became the President of the European Commission in January 1985. During his presidency, he oversaw important budgetary reforms and laid the groundwork for the introduction of a single market within the European Community, which came into effect on 1 January 1993. (see Delors Commission for details)

In the autumn of 1988 Delors addressed the British Trade Union Congress, promising that the EC would be a force to require governments to introduce pro-labour legislation. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher responded with her famous Bruges Speech in September 1988, in which she said that she had not rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed by a Brussels superstate. These developments were of key importance for domestic UK politics – as recently as the early 1980s large elements of the Labour Party had been opposed to British membership of the EC, whereas the Conservatives under Harold Macmillan (1957-1963) and Edward Heath (1970-1974) had favoured joining. After 1988 it was to be the Conservatives who were divided, with Thatcher and her supporters opposed to further European federalism.

On 1 November 1990, shortly before Thatcher was ousted as Prime Minister, Delors bore the brunt of British Euroscepticism; tabloid newspaper The Sun's headline declaimed "Up Yours Delors" in response to his supposed attempts to force European federalism upon the UK.