Britain's first application for membership in the EEC (1961)

Britain and Europe
1. History
1.1 Introduction 1.2 Research criteria
2. Major events
2.1 European Free Trade Association 2.2 Applications for EEC membership 2.2.1 First application (1961) 2.2.2 Second application (1967) 2.2.3 Entry to the EEC (1973) 2.2.4 Referendum (1975) 2.3 European projects/policies 2.3.1 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2.3.2 Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) 2.3.3 Single European Act (1986) 2.3.4 Maastricht Treary (1992)
3. Latest Developments
Latest Developments
4. Help
Abbreviations
5. Bibliography
Useful literature on Britain and Europe
Future projects
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Contact
John Alistair Kühne

Britain's first application for EEC membership was led by Harold Macmillan in 1961. According to Gamble, this initial application "formed part of a more general reassessment of Britain's place in the world, and the need to modernize British institutions". (Gamble 2003, 116)
Macmillan took over as the leader of the Conservative Party after Britain had been humiliated at Suez by the Americans and began to improve the Anglo-American relations and press ahead with the retreat from the Empire.
Macmillan's outlook on the EEC was positive. According to Gamble, the "membership of the EEC was the logical next step." (Gamble 2003, 117) A coalition of business, media, and political opinion was set up in favour of an application. This pro-European coaltion also had to face opposition, esp. from the Labour Party under Hugh Gaitskell. In the end the first British application failed due to DeGaulle's 'non'. He "had decided that Britain and its political class were not yet sufficiently European in their policy and outlook, by which he meant that they did not share France's strategic view of Europe, and were likely to be serious obstacles to its achievement." (Gamble 2003, 117)

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Useful links:

• Universiteit Leiden - EU History
• Address given by Harold Macmillan (31 July 1961)

On 31 July 1961, Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister, announces to the House of Commons his Government's decision formally to apply for the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Economic Community (EEC).

European Economic Community (Government Policy), in Parliamentary Debates. 1960-1961, No 645; fifth series, pp. 928-931.

• De Gaulle's 'non' in French