Sicco Mansholt | |
|---|---|
 Mansholt in 1962 | |
| President of the European Commission | |
| In office 22 March 1972 – 5 January 1973 | |
| Vice President | Wilhelm Haferkamp |
| Preceded by | Franco Maria Malfatti |
| Succeeded by | François-Xavier Ortoli |
| First Vice-President of the European Commission | |
| In office 7 January 1958 – 22 March 1972 | |
| President | See list
|
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Wilhelm Haferkamp |
| European Commissioner for Agriculture | |
| In office 7 January 1958 – 22 March 1972 | |
| President | See list
|
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Carlo Scarascia-Mugnozza |
| Minister of Economic Affairs | |
| In office 14 January 1948 – 20 January 1948 Ad interim | |
| Prime Minister | Louis Beel |
| Preceded by | Gerardus Huysmans |
| Succeeded by | Jan van den Brink |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 3 July 1956 – 3 October 1956 | |
| In office 15 July 1952 – 7 September 1952 | |
| In office 27 July 1948 – 10 August 1948 | |
| In office 4 June 1946 – 18 July 1946 | |
| Parliamentary group | Labour Party |
| Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies | |
| In office 25 June 1945 – 1 January 1958 | |
| Prime Minister | See list
|
| Preceded by | Hans Gispen as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Jim de Booy as Minister of Shipping |
| Succeeded by | Kees Staf(ad interim) |
| Mayor of Wieringermeer | |
| In office 30 April 1945 – 22 May 1945 Ad interim | |
| Preceded by | Aris Saal |
| Succeeded by | Gerrit Gesenius Loggers |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sicco Leendert Mansholt (1908-09-13)13 September 1908 Ulrum, Netherlands |
| Died | 29 June 1995(1995-06-29) (aged 86) Wapserveen, Netherlands |
| Political party | Labour Party(1946–1995) |
| Other political affiliations | Social Democratic Workers' Party(1937–1946) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 sons and 2 daughters |
| Alma mater | National Higher Agricultural School (Bachelor of Science in Agriculture) |
| Occupation | Politician ·Diplomat ·Civil servant ·Agronomist ·Farmer ·Lobbyist |
Sicco Leendert Mansholt (Dutch:[ˈsɪkoːˈleːndərtˈmɑnsɦɔlt]; 13 September 1908 – 29 June 1995) was a Dutch farmer, politician and diplomat of theSocial Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later theLabour Party (PvdA), who served as the fourthpresident of the European Commission from 1 March 1972 until 5 January 1973.[1]
Mansholt worked as a farmer inWieringermeer from 1937 until 1945. In 1940,during World War II, he joined theDutch resistance against the German occupiers and helped shelter refugees. Following the end of World War II, Mansholt was appointed as actingMayor of Wieringermeer, serving from 30 April 1945 until 22 May 1945. After the end of the German occupation,Queen Wilhelmina ordered the formation of aCabinet of National unity to serve as acaretaker government and make preparations for a newelection, and Mansholt was appointed asMinister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in theCabinet Schermerhorn–Drees, taking office on 25 June 1945. Mansholt was elected as aMember of the House of Representatives after theelection of 1946, taking office on 4 June 1946. He continued as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in theCabinet Beel I, taking office on 3 July 1946, then served as actingMinister of Economic Affairs from 14 January 1948 until 20 January 1948 following the resignation ofGerardus Huysmans. After theelection of 1948 Mansholt returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 27 July 1948, and continued as Minister in theCabinet Drees–Van Schaik, taking office on 7 August 1948. Mansholt served continuously as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in theDrees Cabinets I,II andIII, and also served as a Member of the House of Representatives after theelections of 1952 and1956, serving from 15 July 1952 until 7 September 1952 and from 3 July 1956 until 3 October 1956.
In December 1957, Mansholt was nominated as the firstEuropean Commissioner from the Netherlands in theFirst Hallstein Commission. Lardinois was given the portfolio ofAgriculture and was appointed as the firstVice-President of the European Commission. He resigned as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies on 1 January 1958 and the First Hallstein Commission was installed on 7 January 1958. Mansholt continued to serve as European Commissioner for Agriculture and vice-president in theSecond Hallstein Commission, theRey Commission and theMalfatti Commission. In February 1972 Mansholt was nominated as the nextPresident of the European Commission. TheMansholt Commission was installed on 1 March 1972 and oversaw the creation of theEuropean Monetary System on 24 April 1972 and the firstenlargement on 1 January 1973.[2] The Mansholt Commission was succeeded by theOrtoli Commission on 5 January 1973.
After his retirement, Mansholt occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director for supervisory boards for several international non-governmental organizations and research institutes (Institute of International Relations Clingendael,European Centre for Development Policy Management,Netherlands Atlantic Association,Transnational Institute,Club of Rome,Humanistic Association,Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities and theCarnegie Foundation) and as an advocate and lobbyist forEuropean integration andhumanism. He was known for his abilities as anegotiator andmanager. Mansholt continued to comment on political affairs as an elder statesman until his death. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Minister of Agriculture, the longest-serving European Commissioner from the Netherlands, the longest-serving European Commissioner for Agriculture and the only Dutchman to have served as President of the European Commission. He is recognized as one of theFounding fathers of the European Union.
Sicco Leendert Mansholt was born on 13 September 1908 inUlrum, in the province ofGroningen, Netherlands.[3] Mansholt came from asocialist farmer's family in the province of Groningen. Both his father and grandfather were supporters of early socialist leaders such asMultatuli,Domela Nieuwenhuis, andTroelstra. His father, Lambertus H. Mansholt, was a delegate for the socialistSDAP party in the Groningen provincial chamber. His mother, Wabien Andreae, daughter of a judge inHeerenveen, was one of the first women to have studied political science. She organised political meetings for other women, usually in their own homes. Together with two brothers and two sisters, Mansholt was raised at "Huis ter Aa", a grand villa inGlimmen.[4] He attended the HBS school inGroningen and after that went to Deventer, to the School of Tropical Agriculture,[3] where he studied to become a tobacco farmer.
Mansholt moved toJava in theDutch East Indies (present-dayIndonesia), and started work on a teaplantation. He returned to the Netherlands in 1936, unhappy with the colonial system. He wanted to become a farmer and moved to theWieringermeer, apolder, reclaimed in 1937. There he started his own farm.
Mansholt married Henny J. Postel in 1938, and they had two sons and two daughters.[3] In the years of World War II, he was an active member of theResistance. He helped people who were in acute danger to hide in the Wieringermeerpolder; he organised clandestine food distributions for the western provinces.
Mansholt became a member of theSocial Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1937,[3] as a secretary of the local party. He had several public functions for the SDAP in Wieringermeer, including that of acting mayor of the Wieringermeer community.
Immediately after the war, in June 1945,Labour Party (PvdA) Prime Minister Schermerhorn asked him to take a seat in his cabinet as minister of Agriculture, Fishery and Food Distribution. He was the youngest member of a cabinet, aged only 36.
Mansholt was a member of six cabinets in total: Schermerhorn-Drees in 1945; Beel in 1946; Drees-Van Schaik in 1948, and the three Drees administrations: 1951, 1952 and 1956. As Minister of Agriculture during this time, he was one of the key architects of the EC'sCommon Agricultural Policy. In 1954 the parliamentary debate about the budget for the Department of Agriculture was postponed: the Minister was ice-skating the 200-kilometre-longElfstedentocht in the Dutch province ofFriesland, which he skated twice in his life.
In 1958, Mansholt became one of theCommissioners of the newEuropean Commission. He wasCommissioner for Agriculture and vice-president of the institution. He modernized European agriculture. The Mansholt Plan was opposed byE. F. Schumacher in his bookSmall Is Beautiful.[5]
Mansholt becamePresident of the European Commission on 22 March 1972 (theMansholt Commission) and continued in that position until 5 January 1973. It was around that time he was heavily under the influence of theClub of Rome.
Mansholt published hisautobiographyDe Crisis ("The Crisis") in 1974.[3] He lived his last years in an old historic farm in the quiet village ofWapserveen, where he died on 29 June 1995.[3] His daughter Lideke also died in 1995, aged 53.
| Military decorations | ||||
| Ribbon bar | Decoration | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Resistance Memorial Cross | Netherlands | 30 April 1982 | |
| Honours | ||||
| Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
 | Grand Cross of theOrder of the Oak Crown | Luxembourg | 8 March 1957 | |
 | Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Orange-Nassau | Netherlands | 22 December 1958 | |
 | Grand Cross of theOrder of the Crown | Belgium | 18 October 1968 | |
 | Commander of theOrder of Agricultural Merit | France | 15 January 1970 | |
 | Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit | Germany | 5 May 1972 | |
 | Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Netherlands Lion | Netherlands | 18 December 1972 | Elevated from Knight (25 June 1955) |
 | Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour | France | 1 January 1973 | |
| Honorary degrees | ||||
| University | Field | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wageningen University | Agronomy | Netherlands | 9 October 1956 | |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Aris Saal | Mayor of Wieringermeer Ad interim 1945 | Succeeded by Gerrit Gesenius Loggers |
| Preceded by | Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies 1945–1958 | Succeeded by Kees Staf Ad interim |
| Preceded by Jim de Booy as Minister of Shipping | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Economic Affairs Ad interim 1948 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Office established | European Commissioner from the Netherlands 1958-1973 Served alongside: Maan Sassen(1967–1971) | Succeeded by |
| European Commissioner for Agriculture 1958–1972 | Succeeded by | |
| First Vice-President of the European Commission 1958–1972 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | President of the European Commission 1972–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by Office established | Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Humanistic Association 1984–1989 | Succeeded by Henk Bos |
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European Commission (1958–1962:First Hallstein Commission) | ||
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*resigned – **died – †replacement | ||
