Joseph Luns

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Joseph Luns

In office
September 2, 1952 – October 13, 1956
Preceded by
Succeeded by

In office
October 13, 1956 – July 6, 1971
Preceded by Jan Willem Beyen
Succeeded by Norbert Schmelzer

In office
October 1, 1971 – June 25, 1984
Preceded by Manlio Brosio
Succeeded by Peter Carington

Born August 28, 1911
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Died July 18, 2002
Brussels, Belgium
Political party National Socialist Movement (NSB), Catholic People's Party (KVP)

Joseph Antoine Marie Hubert Luns (August 28, 1911 in RotterdamJuly 18, 2002 in Brussels) was a Dutch politician. He was the 5th Secretary General of the NATO.

Joseph Luns was foreign minister of the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1960s. He refused to surrender western New Guinea to the Indonesian authorities until forced to do so by the Kennedy administration of the United States. He was one of the co-founders and signatories of the EU's Treaty of Rome. He blocked attempts by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer to create a "Political Union" because it would have made the fledgling EU a Franco-German codominion in his eyes. Later he became secretary-general of NATO. As such he came into conflict with the rather left-wing government of his own country, e.g. by insisting that the Netherlands install cruise missiles.

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