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
Convention on the association of the Netherlands Antilles with the European Economic Community that it was "entitled" to do so. Applying the treaty to the Netherlands Antilles by Supplementary Act to the instrument of ratification turned out to be an impossibility, as the other five Member States of the Community wanted some safeguards with regard to the import of petroleum products refined in the islands, and thus a full treaty revision according to Article 236 of the EEC Treaty had to be negotiated. The Kingdom of the Netherlands proposed a treaty revision on 4 June 1962. This proposal was met with favourable responses from the Commission, the Assembly, and the Council on 10