Hallstein I

The EEC Commission Hallstein I (January 10, 1958– January 9, 1962) was the first commission of the European Economic Community , which was formed on March 25, 1957 as a result of the Treaty of Rome . It is named after its President Walter Hallstein .

history

In order to achieve the objectives of the EEC Treaty, the Heads of State and Government of the signatory countries decided to set up a Commission whose task it should be " to ensure the proper functioning and development of the common market " and to make new proposals for European unification . The commissioners should enjoy complete independence from instructions from their respective governments.

At the Foreign Ministers' Conference on January 7, 1958 , Germany, with the support of France, who, along with Louis Armand , was allowed to nominate the President of the new Euratom Commission, proposed the previous German State Secretary Walter Hallstein as the first Commission President . He was confirmed by the foreign ministers. The first meeting of the new commission took place on January 16, 1958 in Val Duchesse Castle near Brussels .

The aim of the commission was to force the merging of the national economies in order to come closer to a political community via an economic union. The basis for this was the so-called Hallstein Plan, which, with the consent of the national governments, wanted to implement the economic community faster than planned in the EEC Treaty. An important success here was the gradual harmonization of the national agricultural markets (although there were still a large number of exceptional and special regulations). On July 30, 1962 a common EEC agricultural policy for certain products could be decided.

In the relationship between the EEC and third countries, the establishment of EFTA as a reaction to the tariff reduction within the EEC represented a challenge. (Western) Europe was thus divided into two trading blocs and it was up to the Commission to try to find a balance. The association negotiations with Greece and 18 African countries, tariff negotiations in the GATT , in which the commission proposed a 20 percent reduction in tariffs, and the establishment of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Aid ( OECD ) with the EEC as a founding member also fell during the Commission's term of office .

The failure of negotiations on UK accession to the EEC due to the objection of French President Charles de Gaulle in January 1963 represented the worst crisis in the Commission's term of office. On January 14, de Gaulle declared his rejection of the British accession plans at a press conference. With his veto he surprised the Commission and the five other partners in the community. On January 28th the negotiations were postponed indefinitely due to special requests from Great Britain regarding the agricultural market.

Walter Hallstein was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen on May 11, 1961 for his work on the commission .

composition

The commission consisted of nine members, including the President and three Vice-Presidents. France, Germany and Italy each provided two, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg one each. In addition to their main area of ​​responsibility (marked with (H) in the list), all commissioners were also members of the “working groups” in other main areas of responsibility.

Surname	Department	country
Walter Hallstein	President , General Management, Representation	Germany
Piero Malvestiti (until September 15, 1959)	Vice President, Internal Market (H), Economics and Finance, Transport	Italy
Giuseppe Caron (from December 9, 1959)	Vice President, Internal Market (H), Economy and Finance, Transport, External Relations	Italy
Sicco Mansholt	Vice President, Agriculture (H), Economy and Finance, Social Affairs	Netherlands
Robert Marjolin	Vice President, Economy and Finance (H), External Relations, Competition	France
Hans von der Groeben	Competition (H), Agriculture, Development of Overseas States and Territories, Economy and Finance (only until 1961)	Germany
Robert Lemaignen	Development of the overseas states and territories (H), transport, agriculture	France
Giuseppe Petrilli (until February 8, 1961)	Social (H), development of overseas states and territories, external relations	Italy
Lionello Levi Sandri (from February 22, 1961)	Social (H), Development of Overseas States and Territories, Economy and Finances (from 1961)	Italy
Jean Rey	External relations (H), internal market, competition	Belgium
Lambert Schaus	Transport (H), Inner Market, Agriculture	Luxembourg

Literature and web links

• Theo M. Loch: The nine from Brussels. Cologne 1963.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.bpb.de/izpb/10114/die-westeuropaeische-integration-1963-1974