History of European Union–United Kingdom relations History of European Union–United Kingdom relations Since the foundation of the European Communities, the United Kingdom has been an important neighbour and is currently a major member, until its withdrawal. The UK was not a signatory of the three original treaties that were incorporated into what was then the European Communities, including the most well known of these, the 1957 Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC). The UK's applications to join in 1963 and 1967 were vetoed by the President of France, Charles de Gaulle, who said that "a number of aspects of Britain's economy, from working
Special member state territories and the European Union lodged by the United Kingdom with the EEC in 1982, Gibraltarians were to be counted as British nationals for the purposes of Community law. This was notwithstanding that they were not, at the time, British citizens, but were British Overseas Territories citizens with the right to be registered as British citizens. As such, Gibraltarians have enjoyed European Community treaty rights since UK's accession to the European Community, and subsequently European Union citizenship since the Maastricht Treaty. It was not until 21 May 2002 when Gibraltarians who did not apply for British citizenship were automatically granted British citizenship while still retaining