Paul van Zeeland

Nationality

Belgium

Date of Birth

1893

Date of Death

1973

Political
Preference

Christian Conservative

Paul van Zeeland was a Belgian lawyer, economist, Catholic politician, and statesman. Van Zeeland was born in Soignies, Belgium in 1893. He studied economics at Princeton, and obtained his doctorate in political and social science in Leuven in 1923. Here, he taught law and became the director of the Institute of Economic Science. Van Zeeland also headed the study department of the National Bank of Belgium, and even became director of the bank in 1926 (a job he kept until 1934).

In 1935, Van Zeeland became Prime Minister of Belgium. In this role, he laid particular focus on the domestic economic situation. He devalued the currency and applied expansive budgetary policies in order to successfully avoid a national economic crisis. Forced to resign in 1936 due to agitations by the fascist Rexist Party, Van Zeeland was able to renew his term later in the same year, declaring martial law to suppress Rexism.

During this second term, Belgium embraced to its status as a neutral country. Around Belgium, however, the international economic tensions were growing, and political dictatorship was on the rise in Italy and Germany. In 1937, Van Zeeland – influenced by Pietro Stoppani’s plan for an international economic cooperation and free trade dating from 1936 – toured the capitals of Europe and went to Washington in order to explore the possibilities for economic cooperation. In 1938, Van Zeeland presented his report, that called for international economic cooperation.

In 1939, van Zeeland became president of the Committee on Refugees in London, and later became High Commissioner for the repatriation of displaced Belgians. In wartime London, Van Zeeland was also able to expand his personal network to incorporate men like the Polish ‘informal diplomat’ Joseph Retinger. Both of them were involved in the wartime thinking about post-war European unity. In December 1942, Van Zeeland also presented a report on post-war European economic and political cooperation, which he had drafted for the Comité des Ministres des Affairès Étrangères des Gouvernements allies.

An ardent supporter of European (economic) integration, Van Zeeland founded the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC) with Joseph Retinger in 1946. In 1949, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium again, and as such presided over the ministerial council meetings of the OEEC. During this crucial phase – in which both Germany entered the OEEC and the negotiations for the European Payments Union (EPU) were conducted – Van Zeeland supported the efforts towards multilateral payments arrangements, as he had already done in the late 1930s.

Van Zeeland became Honorary Secretary General of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group, an annual conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America.