Back to the Time Of The Hippie calendar
On March 25, 1957, (no it's not in the wrong
place) France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg signed a treaty in Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), also known
as the Common Market. The EEC, which came into operation in January 1958, was a major step in Europe’s movement toward economic and political union. In 1963 Britain
applied to join but the President of France, Charles de Gaulle said no. De Gaulle had been in Britain during WWII helping organise French resistance and he felt he
had been left out of some meetings. He also wanted France to be a powerful nation again and, if Britain joined, that would not be so easy. He actually said
“l'Angleterre, ce n'est plus grand chose” which means England isn't much any more. He didn't like us much, I guess.
In 1967 we tried again and once more he said “non”. In 1969 de Gaulle
resigned and we tried a third time and, after years of negotiations, the United Kingdom finally joined the European Economic Community, which is now the European
Union, in 1973. We joined on 1 January along with Denmark and Ireland. There was much celebrating, the Union Flag was raised over the EEC headquarters in Brussels.
The Prime Minister, Edward Heath said that it would “enable us to be more efficient and more competitive in gaining more markets not only in Europe
but in the rest of the world." He always regarded securing membership of the EEC as his greatest achievement. Years later, in 2000 I think, I met him and he
explained that he had visited Europe in the years before WWII and seen nationalism grow, particularly in Germany, and he never wanted to see anything that could
produce so much suffering and loss of life ever again. He firmly believed that joining the EEC would mean less chance of that type of thing happening.
As you probably know, in 2016 we voted to leave, causing loads of problems. If only we had listened to Charles de Gaulle.
Forward to 1974AD
