Helmut Freiherr von Verschuer (born 6 December 1926), sometimes referred to as ''Helmut van Verschuer'' in Dutch, was a European civil servant who was a high-ranking official of the
European Commission from 1958 until 1987. He was born in
Tübingen.
A member of the noble Dutch
Verschuer
The Verschuer family (originally van der Schuer) is a Dutch nobility, Dutch noble family originally from Appelrebroeck near Barneveld (town), Barneveld in Gelderland. The family has branches in The Netherlands and Germany. The family name is spel ...
family, which was closely connected to the
Trott zu Solz family, Verschuer attended the
Musterschule in Frankfurt. He then studied agriculture at the
Technical University of Munich and the
University of Giessen, and earned an M.Sc. in agriculture in 1950 and a PhD in agriculture at the
University of Göttingen in 1956. He was a civil servant in the
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in West Germany from 1952 to 1958. He was also a member of the West German permanent delegation to the negotiations on a European agricultural union 1952–1954 and participated in the Val Duchesse negotiations on the Rome Treaties, their compatibility with the
GATT, and the free-trade area (1956–1958).
From 1958 to 1987 he worked for the
European Commission's
Directorate-General for Agriculture. He was the
executive assistant (i.e.
private secretary) for the first director-general for agriculture
Louis-Georges Rabot from 1958 to 1967, Director of General Affairs responsible for international negotiations from 1967 to 1972, and Deputy Director-General from 1972 to 1986. He played a key role in the EU's membership negotiations with
Spain and
Portugal. He was also President of the ''Association œcuménique européenne pour église et société'' in
Brussels. He was also the author of several works on the
Common Agricultural Policy.
Helmut von Verschuer
CVCE
Publications
*Helmut von Verschuer,
Wie ich zur Landwirtschaft kam und die Entstehung der europäischen Agrarpolitik erlebt habe
', memoirs, Historical Archives of the European Union, 2014
See also
*His father: Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer
External links
Archives and interviews
by Helmut von Verschuer are deposited at th
Historical Archives of the EU
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verschuer, Helmut von
1926 births
Living people
German officials of the European Union
German people of Dutch descent
20th-century German civil servants