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 Yugoslavia and the European Economic Community From the establishment of the European Economic Community (later expanded into the European Union) in 1957 until the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990’s, thus during the Cold War period, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the only communist country in Eastern Europe which developed close relations with the organisation. Notwithstanding the occasional and informal proposals coming from both sides, Yugoslavia has never become a full member state of the EEC. Mutual interactions between the two sides have intensified in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s but all agreements were cut off