Former European Commission President Jacques Delors, a founding father of the European Union's historic single currency project, died at the age of 98.

Delors, an ardent advocate of post-war European integration, served as president of the European Commission, the EU executive, for three terms - longer than any other holder of the office - from January 1985 until the end of 1994.

During Delors' dynamic decade as Commission chief, the EU completed its integrated single market and agreed to introduce a single currency and build a common foreign and security policy.