Charles de Gaulle visited Homeland

De Gaulle established a good relationship with West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer—culminating in the Elysee Treaty in 1963—and in the first few years of the Common Market, France’s industrial exports to the other five members tripled and its farm export almost quadrupled. The franc became a solid, stable currency for the first time in half a century, and the economy mostly boomed. De Gaulle vetoed the British application to join the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1963, and again in June 1967. In June 1965, after France and the other five members could not agree, de Gaulle withdrew France’s representatives from the EC. Their absence left the organisation essentially unable to run its affairs until the Luxembourg compromise was reached in January 1966. De Gaulle succeeded in influencing the decision-making mechanism written into the Treaty of Rome by insisting on solidarity founded on mutual understanding.