Bob Monlenaar, Honorary Member of UEF

A few days before Easter came the sad news of the death of Gerard Wissels (31.03.1927 – 21.04.2011), the Dutch federalist, who became Secretary-General of the new UEF when in 1973 it emerged from the fusion of the two opposing associations, MFE and AEF.  Card and advertisement brought the message preceded by a quotation from Jean Monnet: "Ce qui est important, ce n’est ni d’être optimiste, ni pessimiste, mais d’être déterminé".

Typical Gerard, born in Rotterdam in 1927, whose life had  been devoted to Europe. As a monetary specialist one of the top experts of the European Commission of the sixties, Gerard was then an active pensioner, a determined federalist both in the Dutch European Movement and in the international field. In 1973, he wrote the new statutes of the unified organisation and in his many years as UEF Secretary-General he brought hitherto opposing sections together in his pragmatical, calm, but determined approach. There came a moment when his quiet pragmatism did no longer satisfy a majority which wanted a more passionate background, and Gerard had to hand over.

UEF in those years had little interest nor appreciation for what had been accomplished after the fusion. Today, nearly forty years later, there will be few UEF members left who remember Gerard as the architect of the present UEF. These few lines express a word of thanks for all the work of a determined European federalist.