France's Rejection of Uk Eec Membership
Write a 1,000 word review assessing the reasons why the French President, Charles de Gaulle, vetoed Britain’s membership of the European Community in January 1963. Please refer to relevant sources. FRANCE’S REJECTION OF UK EEC MEMBERSHIP. PRESS STATEMENT BY FRENCH PRESIDENT CHARLES DE GAULLE, 14 JANUARY 1963
This is an extract of General de Gaulle’s speech which cast a veto against the UK’s first application for EEC membership.
. . . England is, in effect, insular, maritime, linked through its trade, markets, and food supply to very diverse and often very distant countries. Its activities are essentially industrial and commercial, and only slightly agricultural. It has, throughout its work, very marked and original customs and traditions. In short, the nature, structure, and economic context of England differ profoundly from those of the other States of the Continent . . .
It is foreseeable that the cohesion of all its members, who would be very numerous and very diverse, would not hold for long and that in the end there would appear a colossal Atlantic Community dependent on the US and under American leadership which would soon completely swallow up the European Community. Charles de Gaulle (1970) Discours et Messages, Pour l’effort Août 1962 – Décembre 1965 (Paris: Librairie Plon) pp.66–70 (translated)
As Charles de Gaulle points out, in his comments on vetoing the UKs requested membership to the EEC in 1963, Britain had a lot of differences to the original six established nations of the organisation. He notes the difference of production, being mainly “industrial and commercial, and only slightly agricultural” (Gaulle, 1970). He points out the seemingly huge gulf in culture, speaking of “very marked and original customs and traditions” (Gaulle, 1970). He talks of Britain being linked with its empire, and the “very diverse and often very distant countries” (Gaulle, 1970) that would thereof have been, potentially unsustainably, linked into the
This is an extract of General de Gaulle’s speech which cast a veto against the UK’s first application for EEC membership.
. . . England is, in effect, insular, maritime, linked through its trade, markets, and food supply to very diverse and often very distant countries. Its activities are essentially industrial and commercial, and only slightly agricultural. It has, throughout its work, very marked and original customs and traditions. In short, the nature, structure, and economic context of England differ profoundly from those of the other States of the Continent . . .
It is foreseeable that the cohesion of all its members, who would be very numerous and very diverse, would not hold for long and that in the end there would appear a colossal Atlantic Community dependent on the US and under American leadership which would soon completely swallow up the European Community. Charles de Gaulle (1970) Discours et Messages, Pour l’effort Août 1962 – Décembre 1965 (Paris: Librairie Plon) pp.66–70 (translated)
As Charles de Gaulle points out, in his comments on vetoing the UKs requested membership to the EEC in 1963, Britain had a lot of differences to the original six established nations of the organisation. He notes the difference of production, being mainly “industrial and commercial, and only slightly agricultural” (Gaulle, 1970). He points out the seemingly huge gulf in culture, speaking of “very marked and original customs and traditions” (Gaulle, 1970). He talks of Britain being linked with its empire, and the “very diverse and often very distant countries” (Gaulle, 1970) that would thereof have been, potentially unsustainably, linked into the