User:Mikeo1938/Sandbox

He vetoed the British application to join the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1963 because, he said, he thought the United Kingdom lacked the necessary political will to be part of a strong Europe. He further saw Britain as a "Trojan Horse" for the USA. He maintained there were incompatibilities between continental European and British economic interests. In addition, he demanded that the United Kingdom accept all the conditions laid down by the six existing members of the EEC (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands) and revoke its commitments to countries within its own free trade area. He supported a deepening and an acceleration of common market integration rather than expansion. However, in this latter respect, a detailed study of the formative years of the EEC argues that the defence of French economic interests, especially in agriculture, in fact played a more dominant role in determining de Gaulle's stance towards British entry than the various political and foreign policy considerations that have often been cited. The General’s attitude was also influenced by resentments which had come about during his exile in Britain during the Second World War. Added to these were fears of an Anglo-American agreement in regard to nuclear weapons – the USA had provided Britain with Polaris missiles the previous year. Many Britons took de Gaulle’s veto as an insult, especially in view of the role the United Kingdom had played in the Liberation of France only 19 years earlier.

En 1838, ce canal reçoit, juste à l'amont de son écluse de Baraban, le Canal latéral à la Loire qui descend de Digoin. Ce canal traverse la Loire dans son lit-même, à cinq kilomètres en amont, à Châtillon-sur-Loire.  Cependant, ce passage en Loire est dangereux et rapidement, il ne répond plus aux exigences du trafic fluvial. C'est alors qu'en 1896, est construite une nouvelle branche du canal latéral qui traverse le fleuve par le pont-canal. Cette nouvelle branche du Canal latéral à la Loire reçoit le surnom de "nouveau canal" ou "canal neuf".

The Escadron de transport, d'entraînement et de calibration 00.065 (ETEC 65, "Transportation, training and calibration squadron") is a unit of the French Air Force, under the direct command of the Minister of Defence, in charge of the transportation of the President, the Prime Minister and other French government officials. It is also responsible for carrying foreign delegations and for military and civilian casualty evacuation flights. It is based at Villacoublay near Paris.

Presidential and other governmental flights were previously the responsibility of GLAM (Groupe de liaisons aériennes ministérielles), a unit which was disbanded in 1995 by President Jacques Chirac.

Current fleet

As of 2010, the ETEC has:
 * 1 Airbus A330-200 (already acquired but still undergoing preparation)
 * 2 Airbus A319 CJ for medium or long-range flights (to be sold when the A330-200 is in service and operational).
 * 2 Dassault Falcon 7X1
 * 2 Dassault Falcon 900 for flights within Europe (soon to be disposed of as the two Falcon 7X are already in service)
 * 4 Falcon 50 for flights within Europe
 * 7 TBM 700
 * 3 Super Puma VIP-configured helicopters

Government officials are sometimes also carried by the Escadron de transport 3/60 Estérel, (Transport Squadron 3/30 Estérel), which is equipped with 3 Airbus A310-300 and 2 Airbus A340-200. Such flights are undertaken when the passenger capacity of the ETEC’s A319 aircraft is insufficient.

Flights use the callsign COTAM “0xy”, with COTAM 0001 reserved for the President of France and COTAM 0002 allocated to a foreign head of state.

In response to a ministerial question, it was revealed that the average hourly cost of flights during 2007 was as follows:

▪	4 553 € per hour for the Falcon 50, ▪	7 126 € per hour for the Super Puma, ▪	8 970 € per hour for the Airbus A319 CJ, ▪	9 431 € per hour for the Falcon 900.

In 2003, the ETEC provided 673 flight hours for the President, 516 for the Prime Minister, 602 for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 318 for the Ministry of Defence.

History
The Groupe Aérien d’entraînement et de liaison 87 (GAEL) was formed in July 1945 at Le Bourget airport, transferring the following year to the Vélizy – Villacoublay air base of the French Air Force. Later that year, GAEL was merged with the 60th transport wing, becoming its second squadron, GTLA 2/60 (Groupe de Transport de Liaison Aérienne). GLAM became GTLA 1/60.

In 1969, the unit had become too large and was accordingly split, one part grouping together all the Nord 262 aircraft. On 6 July 1972, the 65e escadre de transport (65th Transport Wing) was formed, being made up of two squadrons:
 * (1) ET 1/60 “Vendôme” (1st Transport Squadron “Vendôme”), which grouped together all the Mystère-Falcon 20 aircraft which had recently been brought into service and the Nord 262 aircraft
 * (2) ET 2/65 “Rambouillet” (2nd Transport Squadron “Rambouillet”) equipped with MH 1521 Broussard aircraft and MS 760 Paris machines. In 1984, a third unit was formed, the “escadron de calibration 3/65” (Calibration Squadron 3/65), also equipped with Mystere-Falcon 20 machines.

In 1987, the EC 3/65 became the “escadron de transport et de calibration” (Transport and Calibration Squadron), which grouped together all the Mystère Falcon] 20; this unit was disbanded in May 1991. The three units have since been grouped together as a single squadron, ETEC 00.065 (“Transport, Training and Calibration Squadron”) which is, however, still commonly known as “GAEL”.

In July 1995, shortly after taking up office, President Jacques Chirac decided to disband GLAM (Groupe de liaisons aériennes ministerrielles). The helicopters of GLAM were transferred to the Escadron d’hélicoptères 3/67 Parisis and the fixed wing aircraft to ETEC which, as ETEC “Alpha”, became responsible for carrying members of the government and VIPs. ETEC “Bravo” took on the responsibility for calibration (see below) and ETEC “Charlie” looked after non-governmental liaison flights using the Mystère 20, the Nord 262 and then the TBM 700, which replaced the MS 760 Paris.

Until 2007, ETEC “Bravo” using its Mystère 20 was responsible for the calibration of radio navigation aids. Today, this role is carried out by the “Service d'Exploitation de la Formation Aéronautique (SEFA), a branch of the “Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile”, the French civil aviation authority. Beechcraft 90, Beechcraft 200 and ATR 42 aircraft are used for the calibration flights.

See also List of air transports of Heads of State and Government