Alain Rollat, the journalist from Sète who wrote a biography of Jacques Delors

Alain Rollat a publié la biographie de Jacques Delors en 1993. DR

Delors by Alain Rollat ​​is 30 years old. While the journalist and Sétois is an editor in the political service of Le Monde, he is responsible for reporting on the first left-wing government after the election of François Mitterrand and he meets very regularly Jacques Delors, Minister of Economy and Finance under Pierre Mauroy, that Flammarion asks him for a biography of the man we suspect was a candidate for the 1995 presidential election.

"I had established close contacts with Jacques Delors, with whom we often had discussions, asides and confidences on occasion of his movements. He gave me some scoops, recounts Alain Rollat. Flammarion knew about it. I presented my proposal for a biography to Delors who told me ;opened all its doors, its archives, its second home… I saw an honest and complete biography made based on declarations, its archives and its confidences."

Whistleblower on left-wing politics

The 298-page document was released on January 1, 1993. Le Sétois relates in particular the criticisms that Delors formulated on the economic and social policy of the Mauroy government. "Seeing him increase the minimum wage and family allowances, he very quickly sounded the alarm and said that if the left continued like that, it would go in the wall. Delors insisted to Mitterrand that the left stop its flamboyant economic policy."

The biography places greater emphasis on the politician's relationships with his friends and enemies. Less on the role of the President of the European Commission. "Even if the biography is fair, I am the first to recognize that it is unbalanced, having given pride of place to the politician more than to his European work' quot;, regrets Alain Rollat.

"Martine Aubry, his daughter, seemed to have a bright future, so…"

With 30 years of hindsight, what Alain Rollat ​​remembers from Jacques Delors ? "He was an extraordinary man, assures the Sétois. He is considered a great political actor even though he did not want to be. His dream was to be a fashion designer, journalist or filmmaker. He entered politics through the union route. His philosophy consisted of working for man without falling into individualism or totalitarianism. He adhered to Personalism, a spiritualist movement making the individual the ideal objective." 

He adds: "I remember above all that he was an extraordinary teacher. He said that the planet would only get out of this by focusing on pedagogy to free itself from ideology. He also said that the new generation of politicians did not work hard enough and lacked long-term vision."

As for his surprise renunciation of a 1995 presidential election which seemed promised to him, Alain Rollat ​​puts forward this idea: "I'I always had the feeling that his The refusal was motivated less by political than by family reasons: his daughter Martine Aubry, then Minister of Labor, seemed to have a bright future. I am convinced that he preferred to step aside so as not to thwart his daughter's ambitions."

Although born in Montpellier on March 26, 1943, Alain Rollat ​​has a Sète heart. He polished the benches of the Paul-Bert primary school, completed the beginning and end of secondary school at Paul-Valéry, was a child at the Saint-Louis church, played at FC Sète and even been a docker in his student years. He now lives in Sète.