ABSTRACT
Britain’s participation in European integration has long been fraught with difficulties, not least in relation to attempts to form common foreign, security and defence policies. It is worth recalling that concerns Britain would push an American approach to Europe’s role in the world were behind French President de Gaulle’s two vetoes on UK entry before 1973. De Gaulle’s fear might well have been valid, for even after gaining membership the UK has appeared to place relations with the USA above those with her fellow Europeans, as evidenced most recently by the 2003 Iraq War.
