Franciscus Henricus Johannes Joseph "Frans" Andriessen (2 April 1929 – 22 March 2019) was a Dutch politician of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and businessperson who served as European Commissioner from 6 January 1981 until 6 January 1993. He served as Minister of Finance from 1977 until 1980, and as the Netherlands' European Commissioner from 1981 until 1993.

Frans Andriessen
Andriessen in 1984
European Commissioner
[Portfolios]
In office
6 January 1981 – 6 January 1993
President
See list
Preceded byHenk Vredeling
Succeeded byHans van den Broek
Member of the Senate
In office
16 September 1980 – 6 January 1981
Minister of Finance
In office
19 December 1977 – 22 February 1980
Prime MinisterDries van Agt
Preceded byWim Duisenberg
Succeeded byGijs van Aardenne (Ad Interim)
Leader of the Catholic People's Party
In office
1 October 1971 – 25 May 1977
Preceded byGerard Veringa
Succeeded byOffice discontinued
Parliamentary leader in the
House of Representatives
In office
16 August 1971 – 25 May 1977
Preceded byGerard Veringa
Succeeded byOffice discontinued
Parliamentary groupCatholic People's Party
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
23 February 1967 – 19 December 1977
Personal details
Born
Franciscus Henricus Johannes Joseph Andriessen

(1929-04-02)2 April 1929
Utrecht, Netherlands
Died22 March 2019(2019-03-22) (aged 89)
Bilthoven, Netherlands
Political partyChristian Democratic Appeal
(from 1980)
Other political
affiliations
Catholic People's Party
(until 1980)
Spouse
Catherine Andriessen
(m. 1955)
Alma materUtrecht University
(LL.B., LL.M.)
OccupationPolitician · Jurist · Businessperson · Corporate director · Nonprofit director · Lobbyist · Professor

National political career

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Minister of Finance Frans Andriessen with the Budget Memorandum during Prinsjesdag at the Binnenhof on 19 September 1978.
 
Prime Minister Dries van Agt and Minister of Finance Frans Andriessen during a financial debate in the House of Representatives on 23 May 1979.

Andriessen studied Law at Utrecht University obtaining a Master of Laws degree. Andriessen worked for a construction institute in Utrecht from October 1953 until February 1967 and as CEO from July 1961. From 1958 to 1967 he sat in the Provincial Council of Utrecht.

Andriessen was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1967 general election, taking of office on 23 February 1967. He served as a frontbencher, serving as chair of the standing committees for Public Housing Reform and spokesperson for housing. On 16 August 1971 the party leader and parliamentary leader Gerard Veringa took a medical leave of absence and Andriessen was selected as his interim successor on 16 August 1971. On 28 September 1971, Veringa unexpectedly announced that he was stepping down as leader, and Andriessen was unanimously selected as his permanent successor on 1 October 1971. For the 1972 general election, Andriessen served as lead candidate, and following a successful cabinet formation with Labour Party leader Joop den Uyl formed the Den Uyl cabinet, with Andriessen opting to remain parliamentary leader. After the 1977 general election, Andriessen was appointed Minister of Finance in the Van Agt I cabinet, taking office on 19 December 1977.

After the 1977 general election, Andriessen was appointed Minister of Finance in the centre-right Van Agt I cabinet. He sought bigger cuts than his party would accept, and in February 1980 tendered his resignation, precipitating a cabinet crisis that forced Queen Juliana to interrupt a holiday in Austria. The next month he took a seat in the upper house.[1] He was elected to the Senate in the 1980 Senate election, taking office on 16 September 1980. In the Senate, he served as his party's spokesperson for finance.

European Commissioner

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In November 1980 Andriessen was nominated by Prime Minister Dries van Agt as the next European Commissioner in the Thorn Commission, and secured the heavy portfolios of Competition and Parliamentary Relations, taking office on 6 January 1981. As European Commissioner for Competition, Andriessen _targeted restrictive practices, with the vastly differing prices of new cars in member states a priority. He settled the high-profile IBM case in 1984.[2] But he came under fire from Socialist MEPs for blocking legislation on worker participation after objections from Shell and Unilever, and from British members for suggesting that Ravenscraig steelworks should be closed. With Gaston Thorn stepping down at the end of 1984, Andriessen was canvassed as a potential president of the Commission, but Jacques Delors had the big battalions behind him. Andriessen's consolation was the First Vice-Presidency and the portfolio of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brussels' toughest, in the Delors Commission, taking office on 6 January 1985. Within weeks he foiled a French attempt to build an EC "lamb mountain".

Negotiating his first farm budget, the stumbling block was German insistence on higher payments to grow cereals; Andriessen complained that the Germans sided with the British on budgetary discipline, yet wanted him to spend more. Germany vetoed the budget after six attempts to agree it. Autumn 1985 brought the first of several "mutton wars" between Britain and France. Andriessen blamed Britain, accusing Michael Jopling, Minister of Agriculture, of disobeying an "order" to change export arrangements for sheep meat. When French farmers hijacked British lamb consignments, Andriessen suggested an export tax to offset the benefits to British exporters of a weak pound; the Commission overruled him. At the start of 1986 Andriessen recommended a general price freeze for the year. He got his way after a 21-hour negotiating session, and later persuaded member states to accept drastic cuts in milk production. His next _target was grain surpluses, outlining a plan to cut production which introduced the concept of "set-aside". This was adopted, but only after he blocked ministers' efforts to sneak grain subsidies into other parts of the budget.

Starting on 6 January 1989, Andriessen took the External Relations and Trade portfolio. The Uruguay Round of GATT talks was at the top of his agenda; as a free-trader he saw a faint hope of breaking the deadlock with America. He began by warning Japan that unless it opened its markets, the EC might refuse it licences for banking in Europe. He also told Britain that if it did not want to engage fully with Europe it could go back to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

The fall of the Berlin Wall that autumn gave Andriessen new priorities. He proposed a "European Economic Space", enabling EFTA countries to participate in the single market, while opening the door to countries to the East. Within months, he was suggesting affiliate membership of the EC for former Communist satellites. France distrusted this, but the strategy was carried through, after a scare over whether Romania’s post-Ceaucescu government would allow fair elections.

Andriessen's final two years in Brussels were dominated by the GATT talks. By 1992 he was claiming that the dispute now hinged on "a couple of million tons of European grain". But that summer he accused America of "harassing" European steel producers for alleged dumping; then France demanded fresh concessions for its farmers. EC-US talks, with Andriessen and Leon Brittan leading for Europe, made no headway. Then farm subsidy negotiations collapsed, with the outgoing Bush administration blaming Europe; Andriessen promised "countermeasures". Ireland's Agriculture Commissioner Ray McSharry resigned, accusing Delors of going behind his back to sabotage an agreement. Delors faced mutiny from commissioners led by Andriessen and Brittan, who resolved to outvote him on GATT, if necessary forcing his resignation. He backed off, and McSharry returned.

On 20 November 1992, Andriessen and his fellow negotiators finally concluded the GATT agreement on agriculture; the Commission ratified it despite French resistance. Andriessen left Brussels at the turn of the year confident that a full agreement ranging from textiles to intellectual property could be achieved – as it was, enabling the WTO to come into being.

Retirement and later life

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Andriessen retired from active politics at 62 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government and as a occasional diplomat for economic and diplomatic delegations, and was professor of European integration at his alma mater, Utrecht University, from March 1990 until September 2009. Following his retirement Andriessen continued to be active as a advocate and lobbyist for more European integration. Out of office, he was in demand as one of Europe’s "great and good". This could bring him into trying company: at a symposium in Copenhagen in 1993 he was incandescent when Sir Alan Walters, former economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher, suggested the Germans could put a portrait of Hitler on a single European currency. Andriessen was known for his abilities as a skilful negotiator and effective consensus builder and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his is death in March 2019 at the age of 89. He holds the distinction as the second longest-serving Dutch European Commissioner with 12 years, 0 days. He was a Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, and held the Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Personal life

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Andriessen married Catherine Ten Holter in 1955; she survives him with their four children.

Decorations

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National

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Foreign

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Honorary degrees

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Honorary degrees
University Field Country Date Comment
Utrecht University Law Netherlands 1992

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Obituaries, The Daily Telegraph (24 March 2019). "Frans Andriessen, Dutch politician and three-term European Commissioner who deftly navigated the era of 'mutton wars' and set-aside – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  2. ^ "84/233/EEC: Commission Decision of 18 April 1984 relating to a proceeding under Article 85 of the EEC Treaty (IV/30.849 IBM personal computer)". Eur Lex. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

External Relations and Trade (1989–1993)
First Vice-President (1985–1993)
Agriculture and Fisheries (1985–1989)
Competition and Parliamentary Relations
(1981–1985)

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Official
Party political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary leader of the
Catholic People's Party
in the House of Representatives

1971–1977
Party merged into the
Christian Democratic Appeal
Leader of the Catholic People's Party
1971–1977
Preceded by Lead candidate of the Catholic People's Party
1972
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Finance
1977–1980
Succeeded by
Preceded by European Commissioner from the Netherlands
1981–1993
Succeeded by
Preceded by European Commissioner for
Competition
and Parliamentary Relations

1981–1985
Succeeded by
Preceded by European Commissioner for
Agriculture
and Fisheries

1985–1989
Succeeded by
Preceded by
?
First Vice-President of the
European Commission

1985–1989
Succeeded by
?
Preceded by European Commissioner for
External Relations
and Trade

1989–1993
Succeeded by
Hans van den Broek
as European Commissioner for External Relations
Succeeded byas European Commissioner for Trade
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