Jacques Delors

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.

France favours a "stronger organisation" behind the euro led by "a vanguard of countries", French President Francois Hollande said in an interview published on July 19.