ABSTRACT
European Economic Community (EEC) enlargement was a different type of colonial crisis. British government attempts to enter into a customs union with the existing members of the EEC – Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, France, Germany and Italy – lasted from the early 1960s until 1973. The value to the British economy of trade with the Empire/Commonwealth declined in the post-war period, while trade with Western Europe grew in significance. Imperial preference mainly facilitated the exchange of manufactured goods from Britain for primary products from the Empire/Commonwealth. The EEC enlargement talks strengthened a shift from entrepreneurship – that is, making products for new markets – to rent-seeking behaviour, monopolistic organizations seeking to control market shares/.
