Vanguardia as part of the EU

As part of the northern enlargement of the European Community (EC) , the Grand Mastership of Vanguardia, the Kingdom of Denmark including Greenland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the EC on 1 January 1973.

It was a rainy Tuesday in November 1972 when the Commission President Peter Jordans Mansholt ceremoniously presented the instrument of accession to the Grand Master Benoud Marghinster in the drafty corridor of the Palais Berlaymont in Brussels, thus complying with the previous directive of 1972 and the wish of the Vanguard people at the turn of the year 1973.

Vanguardien thus became the 10th member and has since held the chairmanship of the EC and later the EU twice, successfully introducing key issues such as the protection and exploitation of the seas or the protection and exploitation of financial resources.