Mansholt, Sicco Leendert

▪ 1996

      Dutch politician (b. Sept. 13, 1908, Ulrum, near Groningen, Neth.—d. June 30, 1995, Wapserveen, Neth.), was the guiding force behind the Mansholt Plan, a proposed radical restructuring of Western European agriculture that became the basis for the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Economic Community (EEC) and its successor, the European Community (EC). Mansholt, who was born into a dairy-farming family, studied at the School for Tropical Agriculture in Deventer, Neth., and, after gaining experience in farming (1924-34), worked for three years on a tea plantation on Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). After fighting with the Dutch resistance forces during World War II, he helped rebuild domestic food production as minister of agriculture, fisheries, and food (1945-58). In 1946 he represented The Netherlands at the UN and in the negotiations for the creation of the Benelux Economic Union with Belgium and Luxembourg. In 1953 he introduced the original guidelines for the Mansholt Plan, and he later served as vice president (1958-67) of the EEC Commission and as vice president (1967-72) and president (1972-73) of the EC Commission.

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