The Commonwealth after de Gaulle

Abstract

President at a press conference on 14th January 1963. He expressed doubts about whether Britain was yet ready to join the European Economic Community, questioned her sincerity about wishing to be part of Europe, and indicated that her commitments abroad (to the Commonwealth and the United States) were at variance with the proper obligations of a European state. A fortnight later the negotiations for Britain's entry into the e.e.c. were suspended; they have not yet been resumed, in spite of the clear wish of the non-French members of the e.e.c. that some decision should be made about British membership. Not only have things been quiescent as regards e.e.c; they have also been quiescent in the Commonwealth. There was a meeting of Commonwealth Trade Ministers in London in May, prior to a Ministerial meeting of ca.t.t. to consider how to deal with President Kennedy's proposals for tariff reduction; but it seems that the Trade Ministers were much preoccupied with the Kennedy round, and that the prospect of world-wide changes in trade arrangements proved more important than any consideration of how the Commonwealth itself stood after the French rejection of British entry into the e.e.c. In general, there has been an air of peaceful quiet over the e.e.c. issue in the Commonwealth, in contrast with the febrile anxiety expressed in a number of Commonwealth capitals in 1962. This article is intended to examine the Commonwealth situation before President de Gaulle took his unexpected action; to ask how the Gaullist attitude affected the Commonwealth aspect of Britain's possible entry into the e.e.c; to look at Commonwealth reactions; and to ask what sort of future relationship can be discerned between Britain, the e.e.c, and the overseas members of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Prime Ministers met in London between