Former EU Commission chief Jacques Delors, often lauded as the architect of modern Europe, died at the age of 98 on Wednesday.
Delors died in his sleep in his Paris home, his daughter Martine Aubry confirmed.
Delors, a Socialist, had a high-profile political career in France, where he served as finance minister under president Francois Mitterrand from 1981 to 1984.
But he declined to run for president in 1995 despite being overwhelmingly ahead in the polls, a decision he put down to "a desire for independence that was too great."
"I have no regrets," he said about that decision later. "But I'm not saying I was right."
He headed up the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, a decade that saw major steps in the bloc's integration.
These included the completion of the common market, the Schengen accords for travel, the Erasmus program for student exchanges and the creation of the bloc's single currency, the euro.
Tributes poured in from Europe and across the world for the French diplomat who played an instrumental role in European integration.
European Council President Charles Michel said Delors "led the transformation of the European Economic Community towards a true Union."
"A great Frenchman and a great European, he went down in history as one of the builders of our Europe," Michel posted on social media.
Current European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Delors had "shaped entire generations of Europeans, including mine" and was "a visionary who made our Europe stronger."
European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde highlighted Delors's role for the single European market and "the path he laid out towards our single currency, the euro." Europe, she said, "has lost a true statesman".
French President Emmanuel Macron called his fellow countryman a "tireless creator of our Europe."
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Macron said "his commitment, his ideals and his rectitude will always inspire us."
Delors was "a statesman with a French destiny," Macron added.
Olivier Faure, head of the French Socialist party where Delors was a towering figure, said "a giant has left us."
Delors, who served as finance minister under Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, sought to "overcome tragedy by building a durable peace" after World War II ravaged Europe, Faure added.
