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
Yugoslavia and the European Economic Community refused the proposal. In June 1991 an EEC mission formed by the foreign ministers of Luxembourg, Italy and the Netherlands visited Belgrade, where they talked with Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković, as well as Zagreb, where they talked with Presidents Milan Kučan of Slovenia and Franjo Tuđman of Croatia. The mission members stated that almost $1 billion in economic aid would be suspended if Yugoslav military offensive continued as well as that the EEC favors the preservation of Yugoslavia as a single entity. Members of the EEC were divided over the importance they should give to the potentially contradictory principles