Why was the entry of the UK in the EEC so long and difficult?

Résumé du document

The first source is an article published the January 18th 1963 in a newspaper entitled The Guardian. This article was written by Darsie Gillie who is a journalist, and it is entitled Why General de Gaulle slammed the door, Britain's threat to European equality with America. It's destining to historians and pupils.
The second source is a caricature representing de Gaulle's mind, it was also published in The Guardian on Friday May 18th 1963. This picture was drawn by David Low and it's entitled On De Gaulle's mind, on it, we can spot The French President Charles de Gaulle, there are also the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the US President Fitzgerald Kennedy and finally the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

The first document explains why the General de Gaulle refused to integrate the United Kingdom in the European Economic Community. By the EEC, the French president wanted to create an organisation which could be sufficiently important to be an equal to the United States, and if de Gaulle refused to insert the UK in the EEC, it's because he didn't want that the European Community became an instrument of the US rather than an equal partnership. Therefore, in his point of view, if England wanted to be admitting in the EEC they had to stop or to restrict their "special relationship" which they had with the USA, because with this link with the US, Britain was a threat to European equality with America.

Extraits

[...] The second document presents us the head of the General de Gaulle which is opened by the US president Kennedy follow by Macmillan and by other men holding notices on which it's writing “resignation”. There are standing on a stool and look inside de Gaulle's head, and on de Gaulle's mind they see Charles de Gaulle holding a rudder representing Europe in a globe. Behind the General, there are six missiles on which the French flag with this inscription: “L'Europe c'est française” is hang up. [...]

[...] Thus we can wonder why was the entry of the UK in the EEC so long and difficult. What were the problems encountered by Britain? Who was against their entrance? We will see that at the beginning of the creation of the EEC, the UK wasn't favourable to enter in it. Later, they changed their minds and when the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan applied for the entry in the EEC in 1961, the French President Charles de Gaulle refused them and used his first veto in 1963. [...]

[...] The French president feared that the new candidature cause to transform the EEC into a vast free exchange zone. He especially saw in Great Britain a Trojan horse of the United States: the British accession, according to him, would have denatured European Europe in Atlantic Europe. General de Gaulle inevitably did not seek to widen the zone of the EEC but rather to develop the exchanges enter the members countries. Moreover, it questioned the European spirit of Great Britain. The attitude of the General de Gaulle is also explained by other reasons which did not concern the interests of the EEC. [...]

[...] The new Prime Minister, who had previously been opposed to the entrance of the UK in the EEC, gradually began to have a more Europe- oriented policy. This new direction in foreign policy was a result of the difficulties encountered by the British economy in the middle of the 60's. Relations with the Commonwealth continued to weaken and trade relations within the EFTA grew more slowly than they expected. Therefore, to integrate the EEC seemed to be the best solution to boost the British economy. [...]

[...] Abroad, the interest of the United Kingdom for Europe is felt differently. The most radical opposition came from France. Whereas she wished to make Europe with Great Britain which didn't agree during the 40's and 50's, France changed opinion with the come to power of Charles de Gaulle and refused the British accession. This rejection shows us a competition between the two countries for the leadership in Europe. De Gaulle saw of an evil eye the relations of Great Britain with the United States, because by creating the EEC he wanted to make Europe an organisation sufficiently compact to play the part of an equal to the USA within the Atlantic Alliance, and he didn't want of England because he didn't want that the USA turn that community into an instrument of American leadership rather than one equal partnership. [...]