In 1973, the UK was finally accepted into the EEC, after trying to enter in two occasions and being denied by French leader at the time, Charles de Gaulle. Six years before, in 1967, Charles de Gaulle had said:
“There is the Common Market, and for us, there is no problem. For you, there is one: you want to get in, and that is your problem.”
According to Time Magazine, he was "responding to a question by British Foreign Secretary George Brown about how to solve the problem of Europe. The French leader vetoed British accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) for years, as he believed they wanted to join only out of necessity. The U.K. was only able to sign up in 1973, after De Gaulle had left office."
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