DBWI 50th Anniversary of Britain joining the EEC

[The Oncoming Storm]

Firstly Happy New Year to all AH.com'ers!

I'm sure you're all aware that this is a significant anniversary for modern Britain, in the morning there will be a whole series of events around the Headquarters of the European Central Bank in London celebrating the 50th anniversary of our joining the then EEC along with Denmark and Ireland. I have been doing some reading about the entry negotiations in the early 1960's and about how it seemed De Gaulle was going to veto our application almost until the last moment when he agreed to compromise, so my question is how would Britain and Europe have developed if his answer been "Non!" what would Britain and Europe be like today?

 

[Bahamut-255]

And a Happy New Year to you as well!

Hard to say. If the UK came in later, say the mid-70's, then it certainly wouldn't have the same influence that it carries today.

And you may well have more that are not all that happy with it. Let's not forget that even today, support for the EU - which it's been called since the end of the 80's - usually only hovers between 50-55% in the UK.

Perhaps the biggest change is that without the UK in the 60's, its growth and development may well be rather slower, and the influence of the EU economic sphere would be lessened as such.

Perhaps OPEC would never have even considered switching to the EU Single Currency to measure the Price of Oil, let alone actually vote on it! Granted, the US Dollar still won by a long shot.