Long-serving prime minister of the Netherlands who played a vital role in the Maastricht treatyThe longest-serving prime minister of the Netherlands, Ruud Lubbers, who has died aged 78, enjoyed a protracted political career, not only at home but also with the United Nations and in the European Union, where his work may well come to be seen as his most important and enduring legacy.The Netherlands assumed the rotating, six-month presidency of the European Community, as it was at the time, in the second half of 1991. As an otherwise unspectacular term was drawing to a close, a summit conference at the southern Dutch city of Maastricht produced a crucial treaty, paving the way for the European Union and a common currency, the euro. Continue reading...
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