Benelux treaty

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The three Benelux countries

The Benelux Treaty ( Benelux Economische Unie / Union Économique Benelux ) was signed on February 3, 1958 by Belgium , the Netherlands and Luxembourg . In it the establishment of an economic union was agreed, which should encompass all three countries. A mutual free exchange of goods , workers, services and capital was agreed for a period of 50 years . The State Treaty came into force on November 1, 1960, so there were practically no more trade restrictions between the three states.

The name Benelux was first applied to this contract, it is composed from the beginnings of country names: Be lgien, Ne derland and Lux embourg.

The forerunners of the Benelux Treaty were the Economic Union ( UEBL ) concluded between Luxembourg and Belgium on July 25, 1921, including the monetary union , the Benelux Agreement of June 20, 1932 and the customs union that came into force on January 1, 1948 , which was established by the governments in exile of the three European countries had already been prepared in 1944 and contractually agreed on September 5, 1944. The Benelux Treaty of 1958 summarizes these previous and a number of other agreements with the establishment of the Benelux Economic Union .

The Benelux Treaty created the first completely free international economic and work space. Today it is considered to be the nucleus of the European Community . The Benelux countries, along with West Germany , France and Italy, were founding members of the ECSC and EEC , the predecessor of the European Union . Since then, the economic importance of the Benelux agreements has been put into perspective.

In 2004 a new contract was signed. It includes some measures against cross-border crime. Police officers from the Benelux countries can enter their national territory on duty without the consent of the other countries. This goes even further than the Schengen Agreement .

According to the "Düsseldorf Declaration" of the CDU parliamentary group on May 30, 2007, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia planned to start negotiations under the then Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers about the country's accession to the Benelux Treaty. The interest of North Rhine-Westphalia in closer cooperation with the Benelux states led to the fact that the new Benelux Treaty signed on June 17, 2008 in Articles 24 to 27 contained an "opening clause" for cooperation between the Benelux Union and neighboring groups of states, States, states and regions received. On this basis under international law, North Rhine-Westphalia entered into closer cooperation with the Benelux countries.

literature

  • Albert Bleckmann : The Benelux Economic Union , in: ZaöRV 22 (1962) pp. 239–295 Link (PDF; 5.6 MB).
  • JW Schneider: The Benelux Court , in: Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 4 (1973) pp. 193-235
  • Gilbert Demez: La Cour de Justice Benelux , in: Cahiers de Droit Européen 12 (1976) pp. 149–178.
  • Cornelia Witz, Ulrike Laule: Benelux PLOETZ . Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg. History to look up. Ploetz, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, ISBN 3-8764-0455-X .
  • Wichard Woyke: Success through integration . The European policy of the Benelux countries from 1947 to 1969. Studienverlag Brockmeyer, Bochum 1985, ISBN 3-88339-467-X (= Political Science Paperbacks , Volume 8, also habilitation thesis at the University of Münster (Westphalia) 1983/84)

Web links

  • www.benelux.be Official website of the Benelux (English, French, Dutch)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutschlandfunk : Free trade against the recession , June 20, 2007
  2. ↑ Johannes Koll: Metropolitan Region Benelux-NRW? , Article from February 7, 2008 in the portal bpb.de ( Federal Agency for Civic Education ), accessed on March 14, 2014
  3. ^ Deutschlandradio : NRW wants connection to the West. February 26, 2008 1:07 pm
  4. ^ Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger : NRW wants to become a partner of the Benelux countries. August 22, 2007, 9:03 pm
  5. ↑ VERDRAG TOT HERZIENING VAN HET OP 3 FEBRUARI 1958 GESLOTEN VERDRAG TOT INSTELLING VAN DE BENELUX ECONOMIC UNIE ( Memento of March 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), file in PDF in Dutch, accessed on the benelux.int portal on March 14, 2014
  6. ↑ The Benelux countries visit North Rhine-Westphalia - Joint press release by the Foreign Ministers of Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium and the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia , press release by the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia from July 18, 2013, accessed on the nrw.de portal on 3 February 2018