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
Merger Treaty common institutions (prior to this treaty, they already shared a Parliamentary Assembly and Court of Justice) and were together known as the European Communities. This treaty is regarded by some as the real beginning of the modern European Union. This treaty was abrogated by the Amsterdam Treaty signed in 1997: Merger Treaty The Merger Treaty (or Brussels Treaty) was a European treaty which combined the three executive bodies of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC) into a single institutional structure. The treaty was signed in Brussels on 8