In search of a suitable Europe: Paneuropa and the Netherlands in the interwar period

Abstract

This chapter invites a rethinking of the Dutch relationship to European cooperation in the interwar period. In showing that a European movement existed in the Netherlands in this period, it analyses the development of the Dutch Paneuropa society. While of a Europewide reach, Paneuropa achieved mixed results in the Netherlands. This chapter argues that the reason for this lies in the fact that Paneuropa’s ideas and strategy were ill-suited to the Dutch context. Paneuropa hoped to attract the foreign policy elite, which succeeded to a certain extent. However, it resulted in a neglect of grassroots initiatives which could have been more successful since these were less wedded to the Dutch foreign policy tradition of global free trade and colonial ties ill at ease with the Paneuropean idea. It also resulted in the slow development of the Dutch Paneuropa society, which had its heyday in the years 1930-34, when the international situation was rapidly becoming less propitious to European cooperation.