The UK joins the EEC

4.3.1 The UK joins the EEC

The UK was invited to talks on the foundation of the EEC and subsequently to sign the Treaty of Rome, but did not because the Macmillan Conservative government was unsure that it would work. Empire and Commonwealth interests also conflicted with the ideals of integrated trade in Europe, and the British government was concerned about loss of trade with the USA (although the business community wished to join for political and economic reasons). A further perceived restriction on membership was that the UK would require greater adjustments to legal and economic structures than other countries in order to comply with EEC regulations. There were also those in government who recognised the political implications of the treaty – that it would lead to political and economic integration.

In 1961, the UK applied to join the Community but France (under the Presidency of General DeGaulle) vetoed this. Although this is sometimes represented as simply a long-held antagonism between the two nations, the more likely explanation was that the UK was seen as a potential threat to the integration of Europe. This was because it was too tied, by language and trade, to the USA, and this could create a ‘back door’ route for American imports into Europe.

European Union media policy

In 1973, the UK joined the EEC with Ireland and Denmark; the Heath Conservative government had partial support from the Labour opposi- tion, but many Labour MPs were against membership. In 1975, the Callaghan Labour government held a referendum on membership, which confirmed the electorate’s wish to remain as members. Greece joined in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, the former GDR in 1990 (automatically brought into membership by the unification of Germany), Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995, bringing membership to 15 states and a population of 370 million.

An increasing number of former Eastern Block countries now wish to join, including Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The EU will expand considerably in the next few years. During the Thatcher and Major years it was sometimes claimed that Britain was in favour of broadening membership, because it slowed, or possibly would even prevent, social and political union. Now the perception is probably of a larger market, and new opportunities for economic expansion by Western Europe. This is potentially relevant to film and television production, since there were substantial film studios, and film schools in Eastern European countries, particularly in Hungary. (To some extent this change has already taken place, with a number of television dramas being produced in Eastern European countries – e.g. Maigret in the early 1990s in Hungary, and more recently Alan Bleasedale’s adaptation of Oliver Twist, shot in Czechoslovakia for ITV and transmitted in December 1999.)

Why are so many countries interested in joining the EU? There are a number of advantages to membership, some political – membership offers the opportunity to influence policy within Europe on a wide range of issues such as agriculture and the environment – and others economic. The economic advantages are probably the prime motivation for joining. The prolonged economic booms in France, Italy and Spain during the 1980s are attributable to EU membership, and the EU is the largest trading block, now constituting 40 per cent of world trade. This makes the EU the largest export market for the USA, which is important for the American film and television industry, as it is for a wide range of other American industries.