Sicco Mansholt

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Person.png Sicco Mansholt  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(politician)
Sicco Mansholt 1962.jpg
BornSicco Leendert Mansholt
13 September 1908
Ulrum, Netherlands
Died29 June 1995 (Age 86)
Wapserveen, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Alma materUniversity of Amsterdam
Children4
SpouseHenny Postel
Member ofClingendael Institute, Club of Rome, Netherlands Atlantic Association
PartyLabour Party (Netherlands)
Attended the 1963 and 1964 Bilderberg, later installed as President of the European Commission. In 1971 he became a proponent of the Club of Rome's degrowth plans.

Employment.png President of the European Commission Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
22 March 1972 - 6 January 1973

Employment.png European Commissioner for Agriculture

In office
1 January 1958 - 22 March 1972
Attended the 1963 and 1964 Bilderbergs

Employment.png Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands

In office
14 January 1948 - 21 January 1948

Employment.png Member of the Dutch House of Representatives

In office
15 July 1952 - 6 September 1952

Employment.png Member of the Dutch House of Representatives

In office
27 July 1948 - 10 August 1948

Sicco Leendert Mansholt was a Dutch farmer and politician who was installed as President of the European Commission from 1972 until 1973. He attended 2 Bilderberg meetings, in 1963 and 1964.

In 1971, he who had promoted an expansionist agricultural policy in Europe as commissioner for agriculture pushing for policies that created massive agricultural surpluses, showed a radical change of outlook after reading a preprint of the Club of Rome's The Limits to Growth report. He now favored a doctrine of non-growth, or even of "growth below zero", that is, degrowth.[1]

Background

Mansholt came from a socialist family of Groningen gentlemen farmers. His father Lambertus H. Mansholt was a member of the Provincial Council of Groningen and a deputy for the SDAP, the predecessor of the Dutch Labour Party. His mother Wabien Mansholt-Andreae had studied political science as one of the country's first women.[2]

Mansholt attended the HBS in Groningen and then went to the Tropical Agricultural School in Deventer, where he trained as a tobacco planter which he completed in 1929. After this, he worked at the agricultural crisis bureau. In 1934 he left for Java in the Dutch East Indies to work on a tea plantation. However, the colonial system oppressed him and so he returned to the Netherlands in 1936. He wanted to become a farmer and in 1937 settled in the newly cultivated Wieringermeer, where he operated an agricultural business.[2][3]

During the war years, Mansholt was active in the resistance.[3]

Post-war career

In June 1945, Prime Minister Willem Schermerhorn of the PvdA brought him into his cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supply, where he was the youngest minister at the age of 36. He put Dutch agriculture on a course of modernization, refinement and export, which it pursues to this day. In the early 1950s, however, the effects of his successful agricultural policy began to wear off somewhat, as other countries also began to adopt protectionist measures for the benefit of domestic agriculture. Mansholt therefore developed a plan in 1950 for the establishment of a common market for agricultural products with a supranational governance structure. Due to internal contradictions in Europe, his ideas could not count on much support, so in 1953 negotiations on this broke down. However, Mansholt was convinced that a European market had the future and in the various Dutch Ministerial Councils of which he was a part, he was always a strong supporter of European integration.[2]

In December 1957, Mansholt was nominated as the first European Commissioner from the Netherlands. In February 1972 Mansholt was nominated as President of the European Commission. The Mansholt Commission was installed on 1 March 1972 and oversaw the creation of the European Monetary System on 24 April 1972 and the first enlargement on 1 January 1973.[2][3]

Board positions

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 the Carnegie Foundation) and as an advocate and lobbyist for European integration. [2]

 

An appointment by Sicco Mansholt

AppointeeJobAppointedEnd
Alfred MozerChief of Cabinet19581970

 

Events Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Bilderberg/196329 March 196331 March 1963France
Cannes
Hotel Martinez
The 12th Bilderberg meeting and the second one in France.
Bilderberg/196420 March 196422 March 1964US
Virginia
Williamsburg
A year after this meeting, the post of GATT/Director-General was set up, and given Eric Wyndham White, who attended the '64 meeting. Several subsequent holders have been Bilderberg insiders, only 2 are not known to have attended the group.
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References