Dealing with Britain: the Six and the first UK application to the EEC

Abstract

Britain’s 1961 application was the first time that the European Community was obliged to consider a membership application from one of its neighbours. This book, based on newly-released material from the archives, challenges traditional views of the British application and casts new light on the way in which the EEC responded to the challenge of enlargement. The author explains the initial inability of de Gaulle to oppose British membership, and draws attention to the hesitant and conditional nature of Britain’s application. In combination these two factors ensured that the sixteen months of negotiations, and the balance the Six struck between their conflicting desires to widen and to deepen the Community, became crucial to the outcome of the UK’s membership bid. This book provides a detailed analysis of a vital chapter in postwar European history, and offers important insights into differing conceptions of the European Community which persist in contemporary debates.

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