Peter Adrian Kerstens

Nationality

Netherlands

Date of Birth

Date of Death

Political
Preference

Christian Democrat

Pieter Kerstens was a Dutch Roman Catholic politician, who during the war served as Minister of Commerce in the exile-government in London. Here he connected with several important people who would come to promote ideas of European integration after the war. Most notably the Polish ‘informal diplomat’ Joseph Retinger, with whom he established the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC) in 1947. He also became Chairman of the Dutch Committee for a United Europe, and was one of the driving forces behing the organization of the Congress of Europe in The Hague in 1948.

Moreover, he joined the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1949 until 1951.