The divorce deal approved by Britain and the European Union on Sunday sets the stage for the end of a nearly 46-year marriage of convenience, built on prudence rather than shared dreams.
The divorce deal approved by Britain and the European Union on Sunday sets the stage for the end of a nearly 46-year marriage of convenience, built on prudence rather than shared dreams.
“It’s been a utilitarian relationship since 1973 and the emphasis was always on the economic dimension, not on the political one,” said Pauline Schnapper, professor of contemporary British history at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
“The sentimental dimension is near non-existent.”
Britain was against joining the European project when it was conceived after the Second World War in a spirit of reconciliation.
“We didn’t feel vulnerable enough to join,” said Anand Menon, a professor of European politics at King’s College London.
Instead, Britain preferred to focus on its special relationship with the United States and the remains of its empire.
London nevertheless supported the push for closer integration on the European continent and wartime prime minister Winston Churchill memorably called for the creation of a “United States of Europe” in a 1946 Zurich speech.
But in the early 1960s, Britain’s fortunes changed for the worse.
Its economic growth started lagging behind that of France and Germany, making the European single market on its doorstep seem an appealing option.
– ‘I want my money back’ –
“The UK’s leaders came to realise that the UK could not be outside what, by the 1960s, was fast becoming western Europe’s leading organisation for economics, politics and non-traditional security matters,” said Tim Oliver, lecturer at London’s Loughborough University.
