United Kingdom
- Tower Bridge in London (Photo: Blake Evans-Pritchard)
The United Kingdom has a population of 60.39 million and an area of 244,000 km2. It joined the EU on 1st January 1973 without holding a referendum.
After enlargement of the EU, the UK has 29 votes out of 345 in the Council and 78 seats out of 785 in the EU Parliament.
For the UK, the Lisbon Treaty foresees 73 seats in the European Parliament (78 seats today) and a weight of 12.25 % (UK´s EU population) of its votes in the Council (as against 8.41 % today).
Notes
- Harold Wilson's Labour government renegotiated membership conditions and held a referendum on continued membership in 1975.
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher negotiated a British rebate in 1984.
- Prime Minister John Major kept Britain outside the social protocol, which was annexed to the Treaty of Maastricht in 1991.
- Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted the social protocol after "New Labour" gained power in 1997.
- The UK Government was represented in the Convention on the Future of Europe by the former minister for Europe, Peter Hain.
- In April 2004 Tony Blair accepted that the European Constitution shall be adopted in the EU by a referendum.
- In 2007 Blair took away the promise of referendum and was succeeded by Gordon Brown
- In 2008 a British businessman Stewart Wheeler started a court case against the government to obtain a referendum
Links
Foreign and Commonwealth Office http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/......p;c=Page&cid=1007029390554
Official websites http://www.europarl.eu.int/enl....../member_states_links_en.htm#uk
