Johan Willem Beyen, un costruttore (ancora poco noto) dell’Unione europea. Cenni biografici

Abstract

The following pages are dedicated to one of the central figures in the history of European integration, in its original phase. Although not yet fully recognized as such by the general public, at least in Italy, Johan Willem Beyen, manager, international banker and Dutch Foreign Minister, inspired, by his “Plan” of 1952, the creation of the European Common Market. Such initiative effectively relaunched the European Community process after the stalemate of the EDC. At the same time, together with Spaak and Bech, Beyen contributed to define the physiognomy of that subject that is commonly referred to as "small countries", of which the Netherlands has assumed leadership progressively and systematically. More precisely, the “Beyen Plan” - which drew extensively on experience of regional cooperation in the Benelux and also reflected the Dutch policy agenda priorities, including the preservation of the free market - extended the Community framework within economy as a whole, even resizing the supranational role of the European institutions, which had been the basis of the ECSC Treaty. The concept of "horizontal integration", conceived by the Dutch Minister, induced the Community to overshadow the strictly sectoral approach, introduced by Jean Monnet along with the functionalism, to reach more quickly the goal of economic union, which would be achieved starting from the creation of the customs union. Not surprisingly, according to various scholars, the Beyen’s setting would be essential theoretical substrate of the single market of 1993. Now, as regards to the two following texts, the first will introduce the figure of Beyen by a short biography. The second one is a part of the fifth chapter of the book, edited by the writer, Gulliver in Lilliput. The Dutch contribution to European integration (1945-1969), approved for publication by the Department of History, Cultures, Religions of the "Sapienza"