Hugh Ellis-Rees

Nationality

United Kingdom

Date of Birth

1900

Date of Death

1974

Political
Preference

Hugh Ellis-Rees was an experienced, diplomat and the second U.K ambassador to the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) from 1952 until 1960. Ellis-Rees was saw in the OEEC an instrument of trade liberalisation. Moreover, he believed that Europe could only overcome its payments difficulties (with the dollar zone) if the sterling was once again the currency for international trade. But he could not convince his European counterparts of this idea, for the dollar had already replaced sterling as the most important currency in the world.

Ellis-Rees was known as being a firm opponent of all federalist ideas and did not waste any opportunity to make this clear. In a speech on the Spaak report (1956), he argued that Spaak’s plan had nothing to do with boosting Europe’s economy, but that it should be considered purely political. It did not make him popular in the neighboring countries. Ellis-Rees was afraid that Spaak’s report would break up the OEEC and divide Western Europe in two. However, Elis-Rees could not find support from his American allies, and his remarks were criticized by the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who supported the development of the European common market.