European Economic Community Flashcards
The state of Britain in 1947.
Britain’s ambassador to Washington declared that Britain was near bankruptcy, and that we were withdrawing from our commitments in Greece, Turkey and Palestine. This began the push away from empire, with the Raj becoming independent in 1947.
What was the EEC?
An economic association created by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Its 6 founders were France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
What was the Schumann Plan?
The 1951 plan (Attlee’s government) created by the Treaty of Paris to form a coal and steel union between France and Germany to promote rapid economic growth and to bond together the two historic enemies. This was the foundation for the EEC, and was seen as vital by Britain with the start of the Cold War.
Why did Britain not initially become involved with the EEC?
- There were few politicians in favour of Britain taking a leadership role.
- The left were fearful of common economic markets. “The Durham miners won’t wear it, I’m afraid” -Herbert Morrison .
- The right preferred the preservation of trade and connections with Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
- The EEC was seen as a problem to continental Europe: Germany started the war, France had been occupied, yet Britain had came out victorious.
- Britain was still assumed as a major world power.
- Britain wanted to balance our relationship with Europe, the Commonwealth and the United States - Churchill’s three circles.
What was the Messina Conference?
The conference in Messina, Sicily, which laid down the foundations of the EEC. Britain sent a delegation to observe and encourage the proceedings, but not to join.
The EEC was launched 2 years later with the Treaty of Rome.
The state of the EEC in 1958.
When launched, the partnership between France and Germany was dominant. By 1958, Charles de Gaulle was determined to stop British and American (through the special relationship) from entering the EEC.
There was anticipation over how well “The Six” would perform, but attitudes to joining soon began to change.
What was the EFTA?
In 1959, Britain took the lead on forming the European Free Trade Association - formed in 1960 as a common market between the Outer Seven - Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
However, it was not able to keep up with the rapid economic growth of the EEC.
Our request to join the EEC.
Submitted by Macmillan’s government in 1961. The reasons for doing so were:
- To boost industrial production for large-scale exports.
- To increase industrial efficiency with greater competition.
- To stimulate economic growth with rapid economic expansion already seen in the EEC.
America was also keen for Britain to join for strategic purposes, with Britain being a key link to Europe - Britain’s involvement in the EEC was preventing further Cold War tensions.
Our application into the European Economic Community.
Britain’s relationships with the US and Commonwealth made negotiations difficult and complex.
With the EEC’s pre-existing economic structures, such as the Common Agricultural Policy were hard for us to follow, on account of our connections with the Commonwealth. Resultantly, exceptions were made for lamb exports from New Zealand, which would have usually been blocked by EEC rules, had to be acquired through months of hard bargaining by our Chief Negotiator, Sir Edward Heath.
Whilst negotiations between all countries seemed to have been successful, our application was vetoed by de Gaulle at the last minute in 1963.
The response to de Gaulle’s veto.
De Gaulle’s veto was disastrous. The other 5 members of the EEC were shocked and dissapointed his his refusal to negotiate the matter either.
The veto caused relationships between France and Britain to be strained for some time, as well as ensuring we remained outside of the EEC.
Opposition to joining the EEC.
Opposition arose over:
- Common Agricultural Policy, with Britain’s trade deals to the Commonwealth not being allowed.
- Loss of sovereignty, as tax among many other policies could be decided from outside the UK. Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Shore, was heavily vocal against it.
- Labour Leader Hugh Gaitskell personally lacked commitment towards joining the EEC and took the opportunity to criticise the government for attempting to join, although there were pro-EEC members of his party.
Why did Macmillan’s 1961 application fail?
- A lack of consensus made the French believe that our application was half-hearted.
- There had often been deadlocks over the Common Agricultural Policy.
- De Gaulle delayed the negotiations to ensure an election victory, before then vetoing it.
- Britain’s entry would have threatened the French’s position of leadership in the EEC.
- De Gaulle was suspicious of our US relationship, wanting to keep US influence out of the EEC.
- Even though De Gaulle wanted to preserve France’s sovereignty from the EEC, de Gaulle used our similar approach to convince other nations that we were not committed to joining Europe.
Additionally, the Polaris missile deals at the Nassau Conference showed our reliance on the US, who were interested in limiting France’s influence - De Gaulle didn’t support NATO.
