Jacques Delors

Family, friends, and PASOK members who worked alongside her throughout the years gathered on Saturday afternoon to say their final goodbye to Vasso Papandreou, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 80.

The funeral took place at the Church of Saint Basil in Valimitika, Aigio, her hometown.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (Greek time) host a ceremony in honor of Jacques Delors, the former president of the Commission from 1985 to 1995, who passed away on December 27.

Greece's former socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis bid a warm farewell on Thursday to former European Commission president Jacques Delors, who passed away on Wednesday, expressing their close friendship. 

"Europe has lost one of its founding fathers," Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou said in a statement following the death of former European Commission president Jacques Delors on Wednesday.

Greece "sadly bids farewell to a great European and philhellene, the visionary who, with his work, marked the European Union's history and development," Foreign  Minister George Gerapetritis said in a statement about the passing of former European Commission president Jacques Delors on Wednesday.

Former European Commission President Jacques Delors died on Wednesday at the age of 98.

A pivotal figure in European politics, Delors served as France's Finance Minister under François Mitterrand in 1981 and later became a key architect of European integration.

The era of modernization, almost 20 years after the end of the eight-year term of former socialist prime minister Costas Simitis, was revived on Monday evening in the Antigone Hall of the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center, at an event held in his honor.

The EU has started discussing its future. Our take is that in order to be able to project itself in time and space, the EU needs to be at peace with itself and that most specifically includes its Christian roots and the role of religion in society. Until this is sorted out, there is no clear path forward.

Facing heavy losses in May's European Parliament election, France's two traditional major parties risk becoming just bit-part players in the two biggest blocs in the chamber, Politico reported.

That, in turn, will mean fewer influential posts for lawmakers and less clout in the Parliament for one of the EU's big powers and founding members.

Two popular fallacies are thriving in a Europe of populism and diminished expectations. Many argue that Europe's problem is a problem of leadership. Missing are statesmen with the stature of Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand or Jacques Delors. Historical distance tends to elevate and idealize leaders of the past.