SDLP founder Hugh Logue described Jacque Delors, the former president of the European Commission, as a visionary and true friend of Northern Ireland.
Mr Logue, one of three envoys appointed by Mr Delors to visit the north to consult and establish parameters for the European Peace Package in 1994, also said Mr Delors believed the single market could not exist without workers rights and benefits.
The commission president from 1985 to 1995, Mr Delors, regarded now as one of the main architects of today’s EU, has died at the age of 98.
“Jacque Delors was a real visionary and a true friend of Northern Ireland. He immediately embraced the idea of the European Peace Package and used his authority to have it approved in 1994 at a very difficult Maastricht summit,” said Mr Logue.
“Without him , it would not have been possible. He had the vision to insist that the Single European market could not exist for goods unless it also included workers rights and benefits.
“Creating the euro was another of his historic achievements.
“Famously, speaking of the UK, he referred to ' Euroseptics’ not ‘Eurosceptics ' and when he had the error explained to him and the difference in the two words, he replied ' I continue with Euroseptics !’.”
Delors was the grandson of French farmers and the son of a bank worker, according to the Élysée Palace. He was a member of the Socialist party, serving as finance minister under President François Mitterrand.