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| Title |
Address given by Joseph Bech (The Hague, 3 February 1958)
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| Document type |
Text
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| Source |
"Discours de Joseph Bech (La Haye, 3 février 1958)", in Bulletin de documentation. Février-Mars 1958, No 2/3; 14e année: pp.18-20. Translated by the CVCE.
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| Keywords |
Benelux, customs union
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| Copyright |
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| Caption |
On 3 February 1958, the Treaty instituting the Benelux Economic Union is signed in The Hague. There, Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, pays tribute to those who took the initiative for this union before the end of the war.
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| Location in the digital library |
SPECIAL FILES >> Luxembourg and the European integration process >> Participation in post-war alliances
HISTORICAL EVENTS >> 1945–1949 The pioneering phase >> Economic cooperation >> Benelux
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| Document extract |
Address given by Joseph Bech (The Hague, 3 February 1958)
‘Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, At first sight, one might think that today’s ceremony is somewhat paradoxical. Is it not true that we have always liked to point to Benelux as a model and a precursor of a wider European integration — and now it seems that we have been overtaken by events, and our people are asking us to explain the significance of this signature which follows the signature and entry into force of the major European Treaties. We owe them an answer, and I should like, before developing my reply any further, to sum up my thinking as follows: the European Treaties are, as yet, only a beginning, a summary of our hopes and expectations, whilst the Treaty of Union that we are signing today is, above all, the culmination and embodiment in law of our experiences. Let us not forget that our Union has been — within certain limits — a reality for the last 10 years. In fact, it was at the beginning of 1948 that customs duties were finally abolished between our countries. Now, the authors of the European Treaties have copied us, and announced that the European Economic Community is also ‘founded on a customs union’. This larger union will, as you know, be complete only after 15 years, exactly a quarter of a century after we opened our own frontiers to each other. Read more in ENA |
| See also |
Cartoon by Opland on the plans for a customs union in Western Europe (3 December 1949)
The customs union projects
Benelux
Cartoon by Simon on the proliferation of plans for a customs union in Western Europe (26 November 1949)
A European Customs Union
Benelux stamp (1969)
Demonstration in favour of the Customs Union (Liège, May 1953)
Cartoon by Simon on the Benelux (23 March 1948)
The European Customs Union
Economic cooperation
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