Sicco Leendert Mansholt (; 13 September 1908 – 29 June 1995) was a Dutch farmer, politician and diplomat of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later the Labour Party (PvdA), who served as the fourth

president of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

from 1 March 1972 until 5 January 1973. Mansholt worked as a farmer in Wieringermeer from 1937 until 1945. In 1940, during World War II, he joined the

Dutch resistance The Dutch resistance () to the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party of the Netherlands, C ...

against the German occupiers and helped shelter refugees. Following the end of World War II, Mansholt was appointed as acting Mayor of Wieringermeer, serving from 30 April 1945 until 22 May 1945. After the end of the German occupation, Queen Wilhelmina ordered the formation of a Cabinet of National unity to serve as a

caretaker government A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...

and make preparations for a new

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

, and Mansholt was appointed as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in the Cabinet Schermerhorn–Drees, taking office on 25 June 1945. Mansholt was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1946, taking office on 4 June 1946. He continued as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in the Cabinet Beel I, taking office on 3 July 1946, then served as acting Minister of Economic Affairs from 14 January 1948 until 20 January 1948 following the resignation of Gerardus Huysmans. After the election of 1948 Mansholt returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 27 July 1948, and continued as Minister in the Cabinet Drees–Van Schaik, taking office on 7 August 1948. Mansholt served continuously as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in the Drees Cabinets I, II and III, and also served as a Member of the House of Representatives after the elections of 1952 and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, serving from 15 July 1952 until 7 September 1952 and from 3 July 1956 until 3 October 1956. In December 1957, Mansholt was nominated as the first European Commissioner from the Netherlands in the First Hallstein Commission. Lardinois was given the portfolio of

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and was appointed as the first

Vice-President of the European Commission A Vice-President of the European Commission is a member of the European Commission who leads the commission's work in particular focus areas in which multiple European Commissioners participate. Currently, the European Commission has a total of ...

. He resigned as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies on 1 January 1958 and the First Hallstein Commission was installed on 7 January 1958. Mansholt continued to serve as European Commissioner for Agriculture and vice-president in the Second Hallstein Commission, the

Rey Commission The Rey Commission is the European Commission that held office from 2 July 1967 to 30 June 1970. Its president was Jean Rey. Work It was the first commission of the merged European Communities. It was the successor to the Hallstein Commissio ...

and the Malfatti Commission. In February 1972 Mansholt was nominated as the next

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

. The Mansholt Commission was installed on 1 March 1972 and oversaw the creation of the

European Monetary System The European Monetary System (EMS) was a multilateral adjustable exchange rate agreement in which most of the nations of the European Economic Community (EEC) linked their currencies to prevent large fluctuations in relative value. It was initi ...

on 24 April 1972 and the first enlargement on 1 January 1973. The Mansholt Commission was succeeded by the Ortoli Commission on 5 January 1973. After his retirement, Mansholt occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director for supervisory boards for several international non-governmental organizations and research institutes ( Institute of International Relations Clingendael, European Centre for Development Policy Management, Netherlands Atlantic Association, Transnational Institute,

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing list of global issues, global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in R ...

, Humanistic Association, Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities and the Carnegie Foundation) and as an advocate and lobbyist for

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

and

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

. He was known for his abilities as a negotiator and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Mansholt continued to comment on political affairs as an elder statesman until his death. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Minister of Agriculture, the longest-serving European Commissioner from the Netherlands, the longest-serving European Commissioner for Agriculture and the only Dutchman to have served as President of the European Commission. He is recognized as one of the Founding fathers of the European Union.

Early life and studies

Sicco Leendert Mansholt was born on 13 September 1908 in Ulrum, in the province of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, Netherlands.Dr. S.L. (Sicco) Mansholt
Parlement & Politiek. Retrieved on 10 February 2014. Mansholt came from a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

farmer's family in the province of Groningen. Both his father and grandfather were supporters of early socialist leaders such as

Multatuli Eduard Douwes Dekker (2 March 182019 February 1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli (from Latin ''multa tulī'', "I have suffered much"), was a Dutch writer best known for his satirical novel ''Max Havelaar'' (1860), which denounced the a ...

, Domela Nieuwenhuis, and Troelstra. His father, Lambertus H. Mansholt, was a delegate for the socialist SDAP party in the Groningen provincial chamber. His mother, Wabien Andreae, daughter of a judge in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

, was one of the first women to have studied political science. She organised political meetings for other women, usually in their own homes. Together with two brothers and two sisters, Mansholt was raised at "Huis ter Aa", a grand villa in Glimmen. He attended the HBS school in

and after that went to Deventer, to the School of Tropical Agriculture, where he studied to become a tobacco farmer.

Agriculture

Mansholt moved to

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

(present-day

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

), and started work on a tea

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

. He returned to the Netherlands in 1936, unhappy with the colonial system. He wanted to become a farmer and moved to the Wieringermeer, a

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

, reclaimed in 1937. There he started his own farm. Mansholt married Henny J. Postel in 1938, and they had two sons and two daughters. In the years of World War II, he was an active member of the Resistance. He helped people who were in acute danger to hide in the Wieringermeerpolder; he organised clandestine food distributions for the western provinces.

Politics

Local politics

Mansholt became a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1937, as a secretary of the local party. He had several public functions for the SDAP in Wieringermeer, including that of acting mayor of the Wieringermeer community.

Minister of Agriculture

Immediately after the war, in June 1945, Labour Party (PvdA) Prime Minister Schermerhorn asked him to take a seat in his cabinet as minister of Agriculture, Fishery and Food Distribution. He was the youngest member of a cabinet, aged only 36. Mansholt was a member of six cabinets in total: Schermerhorn-Drees in 1945; Beel in 1946; Drees-Van Schaik in 1948, and the three Drees administrations: 1951, 1952 and 1956. As Minister of Agriculture during this time, he was one of the key architects of the EC's

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Commission. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce ...

. In 1954 the parliamentary debate about the budget for the Department of Agriculture was postponed: the Minister was ice-skating the 200-kilometre-long Elfstedentocht in the Dutch province of

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

, which he skated twice in his life.

European Commission

In 1958, Mansholt became one of the

Commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a Wiktionary: commission, commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissi ...

of the new

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 ...

. He was Commissioner for Agriculture and vice-president of the institution. He modernized European agriculture. The Mansholt Plan was opposed by

E. F. Schumacher Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-born British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.Biography on the inner dust ...

in his book ''

Small Is Beautiful ''Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered'' is a collection of essays published in 1973 by German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The title "Small Is Beautiful" came from a principle espoused by Schumache ...

''. Mansholt became

on 22 March 1972 (the Mansholt Commission) and continued in that position until 5 January 1973. It was around that time he was heavily under the influence of the

Life after politics

Mansholt published his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

''De Crisis'' ("The Crisis") in 1974. He lived his last years in an old historic farm in the quiet village of Wapserveen, where he died on 29 June 1995. His daughter Lideke also died in 1995, aged 53.

Decorations

Honorary degrees

References

External links

*
Dr. S.L. (Sicco) Mansholt
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Mansholt, Sicco 1908 births 1995 deaths Cold War diplomats Commanders of the Order of Agricultural Merit Dutch agnostics Dutch European commissioners Dutch expatriates in Belgium Dutch expatriates in Indonesia 20th-century Dutch farmers Dutch humanists Dutch lobbyists Dutch resistance members European integration pioneers European Union and agriculture European Union lobbyists First vice-presidents of the European Commission Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Mayors in North Holland People from Wieringermeer Ministers of agriculture of the Netherlands Ministers of economic affairs of the Netherlands Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) People from De Marne People from Westerveld Presidents of the European Commission Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Recipients of the Resistance Memorial Cross Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch politicians European commissioners (1958–1962) European commissioners (1962–1967) European commissioners (1967–1970) European commissioners (1970–1972) European commissioners (1972–1973) 20th-century Dutch agronomists History of agriculture in the Netherlands Labour Party (Netherlands) MPs Dutch MPs 1948–1952