ABSTRACT
The Netherlands was not only one of the six founding members of the EEC, it also played a critical role in the creation of the EEC. Together with the Belgian foreign minister Paul Henry Spaak, its former Foreign Minister, Jan-Willem Beyen, carried out in 1955 much of the preparatory work for the negotiations among the six members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) that would ultimately lead in 1957 to an agreement among the Six to establish an internal common market free of custom duties. As a trading nation (about 55 per cent of the GNP consists of exports), Dutch policy-makers have always considered the removal of trade restrictions very beneficial for the country and an essential requirement for its prosperity. This basic attitude has not changed over the years. The integration process remains important for the economic development of the country as exports to the other EU member-states still account for a significant proportion of Dutch trade. In 1995, for instance, about 80 per cent of all Dutch exports went to the twelve member-states that at that time formed the EU (Ministry of Finance, 1995).
