In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, describes how the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 was received in diplomatic and economic circles in the Netherlands.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, official in the Private Office of the Queen of the Netherlands from 1947 to 1950 then Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, explains the reasons for the Netherlands’ interest in the arrangements for the reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, describes the significance in the Netherlands of the generation gap between those in favour of or opposed to the supranational approach of the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, official in the Private Office of the Queen of the Netherlands from 1947 to 1950 then Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, describes the doctrinal position of former Foreign Ministers Dirk Stikker and Johann Willem Beyen with regard to the European integration process.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, official in the Private Office of the Queen of the Netherlands from 1947 to 1950 then Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, describes how the Marshall Plan was received at the end of the 1940s in Dutch diplomatic circles, before going on to explain the scope of the proposal by Foreign Minister Johann Willem Beyen, who hoped to establish a common market between the Six in 1952 in the wake of the proposed European Political Community.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, official in the Private Office of the Queen of the Netherlands from 1947 to 1950 then Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, describes the importance of the cooperation between the Benelux countries for the Netherlands after the Second World War, explaining how it served as a model for the beginnings of the European integration process.