Pioneer on the road to creating the single market. Dutch politician and diplomat, Johan Willem Beyen convinced European leaders to accept his plan for full economic cooperation.
In the mid-1950s, when Beyen was developing his proposal for a customs union, he understood the difficulty of persuading reluctant political forces in his homeland, the Netherlands, as well as in the rest of Europe, for a greater degree of European integration. Many leaders were wary of the idea of further integration after the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community, especially in terms of the economy. However, Beyen persisted; he believed that the time had come to push for even greater cooperation between European nations.
The central axis of Beyen’s plan was the idea that more extensive economic cooperation was necessary, not limited to the coal and steel sector. A common market for all sectors was necessary, based on the model of the Benelux Convention, signed in 1944 between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Beyen presented the “Beyen plan” at the Messina conference in 1955, promoting the idea that political unity could not be achieved without a common market that would include a degree of shared responsibility for economic and social policy. The Beyen plan was accepted, resulting in six countries signing the Treaties of Rome in March 1957, which established the European Economic Community and Euratom.
