The following French citation appeared in La Taurillon magazine on 8 July 2016, following the death of Lord Owen’s friend, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard five days earlier.

“Michel was my friend of the heart and the brain for fifty years. We agreed on a social democracy for the 21st Century. We believed in Europe as an enriching entity in all its many manifestations. For him Europe would be a supranational political design; for me a grouping of states. On that difference there were many arguments. In Paris this Spring on a European Mouvement political platform we spoke together in unison. The time had come for the EU and the Eurozone to be a United States of Europe and for Britain to leave the EU but with our friendship with France enhanced by that process. I am glad that he lived to see that British decision. But I mourn the loss of a great Frenchman and fine internationalist.”

The following French citation appeared in La Taurillon magazine on 8 July: Un grand Français et un internationaliste subtil