Originally Posted by
Kdogg
It wasn’t easy for the UK to join in the first place. They tried several times. Some pompous French ex general did everything in his power to block it. (Before anyone takes offense, I’m English so I can saw that.) It took the death of de Gaulle to clear the way. Five decades later there are still hard feelings. It’s one of the reasons the UK was never 100% committed to the European experiment.
More complex, even. Britain spurned the initial European communities. Here's one link that accords with my (long and highly imperfect) memory:
Why did the United Kingdom not join the European Union when it started?
The United Kingdom was invited to participate in talks which led to the European Union’s predecessors: the Treaty of Paris (1951) which established the European Coal and Steel Community and the Treaty of Rome (1957) which established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. The British did not engage in a significant way with these talks and signed neither treaty at the time. They disliked many of the supranational and technocratic elements in the treaties. They were worried about damaging links with the Commonwealth, and they wished to pursue a ‘one-world economic system’ policy in which sterling was a central currency. The United Kingdom’s non-participation in the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community at the beginning meant than when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973 it had to accept many elements that have proved controversial with British voters: its supranationalism, common agricultural policy, and budget. These were all established before the British joined.
Essentially, Britain valued the Commonwealth and its close ties to the US.
It is important to understand that the EU is a French-German creation, led by prominent citizens of the two countries, to integrate their economies and thereby make sure that World War I and WW II could not reoccur. Britain was geographically separate and did not have the same motivation. The Benelux countries were natural additions given their geography and small size. Italy was one of the initial six, and it was a great advantage to that country to be given untaxed and basically unfettered access to the other EEC economies.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013