European Co-Operation, as Seen from the Hague
| Date | 01 April 1959 |
| Published date | 01 April 1959 |
| Author | H. Van Vredenburch,H. E. Jonkheer |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711785900101101 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
EUROPEAN CO-OPERATION, AS SEEN
FROM THE HAGUE
H. E.
JONKHEER,
H. VAN VREDENBURCH
Netherlands Ambassador to Bonn, Formerly Director-General
of
European Co-operation at The Haguel
I.WROTE
my
first paper on closer European economic co-operation
In
October
of
1932
during ameeting in Geneva
of
the old League
of Nations. It
is
afact which
is
of
no interest to anyone except to
myself.
Ionly mention it in order to show first, that European
co-operation
is
not
exactly anew topic, and second, that progress
until recently has not been very rapid.
If
Ilook back on the years
that have gone by since then, it seems that
at
least one useful lesson
can be learned from the past, namely, that
we
are dealing with an
exceedingly difficult and elusive problem, where no easy solutions
eXist,
where no miracles will happen, and where alot
of
patient
hard work
is
required before any results are achieved. Alot
of
hard work has been done since the end
of
the second world war,
partly
as
aresult
of
equally hard thinking, which was done during
the
War
years.
It
should never be forgotten that it was during this
time that the Governments
of
Belgium, Luxemburg and the Nether-
lands took the decision in London to establish
an
economic union
as
SOon
as possible after the liberation
of
their countries. Benelux
was
universally hailed abroad as the dawn
of
anew era. It had its
critics
at
home,
in
the countries concerned. As time went by, they
either became discouraged,
or
else converted to the faith. Nowadays
these critics have vanished, or else they have become silent. In fact,
there no longer exists in these three countries any opposition worth
mentioning to the Benelux-idea; on the contrary, there
is
universal
sUPPort
for that policy.
It
is
of
course impossible to identify the Low Countries with
Europe. But as an example, Benelux served auseful
purpose;
it
also proved that the people
of
these three countries had learned the
lesson that small economic units were
at
abasic disadvantage in the
modern world,
and
perhaps most important
of
all, it showed
that
the war had not robbed the inhabitants
of
the Benelux countries
of
their Vitality, and
that
notwithstanding all the urgent problems
of
reconstruction and rehabilitation which had to
be
solved, the political
Will
and determination existed to break with the past and to build
for the future. .
In Northern Europe the Nordic Council endeavours to further
cO-operation among the Scandinavian countries. Its development
has been somewhat slower than the progress so far achieved by
Benelux. Both, however, are chips
of
the same old block, the idea
of
European unity. Nevertheless, both are regional organizations,
1Jonkheer van Vredenburch was Deputy-Secretary
of
NATO
from 1952-56
and
~t~r
Chief Representative
of
the European Coal and Steel Community
in
the
nlted Kingdom.
521
A
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