Johan Willem Beyen

Johan Willem "Wim" Beyen (2 May 1897 – 29 April 1976) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of Liberal signature and businessman. Beyen played an important role in the creation of the European Economic Community and is regarded as one of the Founding fathers of the European Union.

Personalia The official surname of Johan Willem (Wim) Beyen was Beijen, but he preferred to write his name as Beyen because he thought that this name was more appropriate for his international connections (the "ij" digraph only occurs in Dutch).

His father, Karel Hendrik Beijen, was a lawyer. He was the company secretary of the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen, one of the Dutch railroad companies. His mother, Louisa Maria Coenen, stemmed from a family of musicians. He had two brothers. One of them was the archaeologist Hendrik Gerard Beyen.

In 1922, Wim Beyen married Petronella J.G. (Nelly) Hijmans van Anrooij. They had two sons and a daughter. At the end of the 1930s, Beyen had a relationship with the Austrian Margaretha Antonia (Gretel) Lubinka. After World War II his first marriage was dissolved and he married Gretel. This marriage was a happy one.

Wim Beyen died in 1976.

Education

Wim Beyen grew up in Utrecht and the neighbouring town of Bilthoven. He studied law at Utrecht University. In 1918, he was awarded a doctorate in law.

Successful careers in the public and the private sector

After his study Beyen was engaged as a temporary assistant clerk at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. From 1946, he was the Dutch representative in the board of the World Bank and from 1948 also in that of the IMF.

On 4 April 1955 he sent a memorandum to his Benelux colleagues Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium) and Joseph Bech (Luxembourg) in which he proposed his idea of a customs union. In a meeting of the three Foreign Ministers of the Benelux in The Hague on 23 April 1955 they drafted a joint memorandum to present to their colleagues of the ECSC. They finalized the memorandum (the Benelux memorandum) on 18 May 1955 and presented it to the governments of France, Germany and Italy on 20 May 1955. They proposed to discuss in a conference of the six participating countries of the ECSC the way towards a general integration of the European economy.

Decorations