Dear JMB,
The BBC site writes on this question, "French President Charles de
Gaulle vetoed the UK's admission, along with bids from Ireland and
Denmark, ending talk of expanding the community. [...] De Gaulle was
backed in his decision by German leader Konrad Adenauer. Both men
feared the UK was still too close to America to co-operate fully with
its European partners." (SOURCE: BBC, "THe UK and Europe - Ever Closer
Union?: 1958-1969 - Britain shut out",
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2001/uk_and_europe/1958_1969.stm>).
Wikipedia adds, that "French president Charles de Gaulle strongly
resisted, arguing that the UK was closer to US policies than European
ones, and would thus try to "sabotage" the community. Such a fear was
understandable, given the past declarations of prominent British
politicians: for instance, Winston Churchill had declared to de Gaulle
in 1944 that if he ever had to choose between the open sea and the
continent, he would always choose the ocean; and if he had to choose
between America and Europe, he would always choose the first.
Consequently, France vetoed the UK's membership bid (as well as the
Danish and Irish bids) in 1963." (SOURCE: Wikipedia, Euroscepticism,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism>).
I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search term has
been:
["de Gaulle", EEC, "the UK"] |
