Robert Marjolin (27 July 1911 – 15 April 1986) was a French economist and politician involved in the formation of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

Early life and education

Robert Majolin was born in Paris, the son of an upholsterer. He left school at the age of 14 to begin work but took evening and correspondence courses at the Sorbonne. A 1931 scholarship from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

enabled him to study

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and economics at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, which he completed in 1934. He also received a postgraduate doctorate in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

in 1936. From 1938 he worked as a chief assistant to Charles Rist at the Institute of Economics in Paris. His research at this time, as well as his later political work, was strongly affected by the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

programs of American President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

. Marjolin was particularly concerned with production and price history as well as monetary policy.

World War II and De Gaulle administrations

After the June 1940 French surrender to Germany during the Second World War, Marjolin became an economic advisor to the De Gaulle Government-in-exile in Great Britain. Before the final phase of the war, he had already sketched plans for the reconstruction of France and the rest of Europe. In 1943 he represented the Government-in-exile in Washington as director of a purchasing mission. He rejected attempts by the American economy to win itself a prominent position in this mission. While in America he met the artist Dorothy Smith, who came from a Presbyterian family and would become his wife. After the war, Marjolin became the first director of the foreign trade department in the French Ministry of Economic Affairs and then

junior minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry (government department), ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is desi ...

for the reconstruction of France. In this role, he initiated the economic development of France for the following decades. In contrast with

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician and economist affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Chancellor of Germany (1949–), chancellor of West Ge ...

of Germany, Marjolin implemented a strong state control of the economy. This contrast defined the relationship between the French and German economic policies for the remainder of the 20th century.

The Marshall Plan and the OEEC

Due to his ministerial responsibilities, Marjolin was particularly involved with the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in economic recovery pr ...

for assistance to Europe. In August 1947 he published a memorandum which helped persuade the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

to support the plan. In 1948 Marjolin was appointed the first Secretary-General of the

Organisation for European Economic Co-operation The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries ...

(OEEC) which was established to implement the Marshall Plan. Particularly in the last years of his involvement, he tried to divert the organization from its course as a purely technical authority for the administration of European trade relations. He wanted it to become politically active, in order to achieve both an economic and also an increasing political integration of European countries. Towards the end of 1954 Marjolin surprisingly resigned from his OEEC position stating that he wished to become "an international civil servant". For a short time, he was a member of the staff of the socialist minister of foreign affairs

Christian Pineau Christian Pineau (; 14 October 1904 – 5 April 1995) was a noted French Resistance fighter, who later served an important term as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1956 through 1958. Life and career Pineau was born in 1904 in Chaumont-en-Bass ...

and an economics professor at the

University of Nancy A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Inaugural European Commission member

In 1955 he led the French delegation in negotiations on the formation of the

(EEC). He attached particular importance to setting a common economic policy, and a financial and monetary policy and as a result got the support of the German delegation leader

Alfred Mueller Armack Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

as well as its deputy

Hans von der Groeben Hans von der Groeben (14 May 1907 – 6 March 2005) was a German diplomat, lawyer, journalist and member of the European Commission, born in Langheim (today Łankiejmy, Poland) near Rastenburg, East Prussia. A son of landowner Georg von ...

. In 1958 he was appointed one of the two French European Commissioners on the first

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, the

Hallstein Commission The Hallstein Commission is the European Commission that held office from 7 January 1958 to 30 June 1967. Its president was Walter Hallstein and held two separate mandates. Work It was the first commission on the European Economic Community an ...

with responsibility for the economics and finance portfolios. In January 1962 he was re-appointed to the second Hallstein Commission. Marjolin unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the French socialists in the French parliamentary election, November 1962. A victory would have meant his leaving the commission but instead, he served his full term which expired in January 1967. Robert Marjolin died in 1986, aged 74, leaving behind a son and a daughter.

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