Constantijn Leopold Patijn

Nationality

Netherlands

Date of Birth

1906

Date of Death

2007

Political
Preference

Christian Democrat (CHU)| Socialist (PVDA) - Protestant (NHK)

After obtaining his PhD in international law at Utrecht University in 1937, Patijn joined the Dutch civil service and rose through the ranks quickly. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, he met secretly with Adam von Trott zu Solz at the behest of Visser ‘t Hooft. Post-war, Patijn joined the Breakthrough movement and shifted his political allegiance from the Christian Historical Union to the newly founded Labour Party in 1946. In the same year, he joined the CCIA as a Commissioner. In 1950, he joined ECEC at its inception and would remain active in it until 1970. In line with his political affiliation, he showed himself a proponent of strong social democratic policies in both the World Council’s Third Section for the Amsterdam Assembly and ECEC. Furthermore, Patijn was a staunch defender of Western European integration, both in social and economic terms and in the field of security, advocating for the rearmament of Germany and the trans-Atlantic partnership.

He became a Labour MP in 1956 and spokesman for his party on international affairs and European integration. He left Parliament in 1967, disillusioned because he was overlooked for a Cabinet position in 1965. From 1957 until 1967 he was a substitute member at the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe.