Abstract：During the course of European integration,Britain insisted on the intergovernmental cooperation of sovereign states and opposed the supranational or federal integration involving transference of national sovereignty.In the immediate post-war period Britain took part in the Organization of European Economic Cooperation and the Council of Europe,but refused to join in the European Coal and Steel Community.It also didn't attend the European Defense Community.One of the major reasons was that both the ECSC and the EDC were supranational and their members had to transfer some parts of sovereignty to the communities.In this way Britain missed the first bus in the European integration and its position in the European affairs was negatively impacted.
