Spain’s Accession to the European Communities: A Historical Overview
Opinion of the European Community
Spain’s Foreign Policy After Franco
The death of Franco necessitated the definition of a foreign policy project and the overcoming of constraints inherited from the dictatorship. In 1976, Marcelino Oreja, Minister of Foreign Affairs, set priorities in Western Europe (from accession to the EC to improving bilateral relations with neighboring countries), Latin America, and the Arab world. Maintaining relations with the USA was also added to these priorities.
Throughout 1977, the first diplomatic targets of the transition were met through the normalization of diplomatic relations with countries where they did not exist or had been broken: states of the socialist bloc and Mexico.
The European Community: A Great Challenge
The European Community was a great challenge and the main focus outside of Spain during the transition. Madrid presented its request to open negotiations for Spain’s accession to the Community in Brussels. In July 1980, the talks were stalled.
The slowdown in membership was the responsibility of France, and more specifically its president, Giscard d’Estaing, who adopted an obstructionist position on enlargement for economic reasons (damage to French Mediterranean production), political reasons (loss of electoral support in agricultural areas), or pure chauvinism.
The presidency of Calvo Sotelo in 1981 provided the negotiating impulse. The new French President, Mitterrand, expressed the impossibility of expanding the Community without having resolved its internal problems.
Calvo Sotelo was aware then that the realignment of foreign policy forced Spain to be defined in terms of peace, security, and defense and to take a position regarding its contribution to the scheme or multilateral defense of NATO. In November 1981, after winning the support of Congress and the Senate, Spain formally submitted its application to become a formal member of NATO by 1983.
The Socialists, like Calvo Sotelo before, began to link Spain’s integration into the European Community to its stay in the Atlantic Alliance. This approach reassured the European partners.
Negotiations and Accession
Starting with the Stuttgart European Council (June 1983), negotiations, led by Fernando Morán, accelerated despite stoppages depending on the economic and social difficulties posed by accession. In March 1985, the negotiation process was closed. On June 12, 1985, the Treaties and Acts of Accession of Portugal and Spain to the European Communities were signed. On January 1, 1986, Spain and Portugal became full members of the Europe of Twelve.
The socialist government adopted a double decision in relation to NATO. First, it froze the process of joining NATO’s military structure. Secondly, and according to its campaign promise, the government remained committed to holding a referendum to ascertain the permanence of Spain in the Atlantic Alliance.
The referendum showed a majority vote in favor of remaining in NATO.
European Coal and Steel
The ECSC Treaty, signed in Paris in 1951, brought together France, Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries in a community that had to arrange for the free movement of coal and steel and free access to sources of production. This treaty is the origin of the common European institutions.
European Atomic Energy Community
The Euratom Treaty was signed on March 25, 1957, by the six founding countries of the EEC (Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) at the same time as the Treaty of Rome. Generally, the treaty aims to develop research, establish standards for radiation protection, promote the establishment of joint ventures, and ensure the peaceful use of nuclear materials and the supply of such fuels.
Community Law
Community law is the set of rules issued by the European Communities during the process of economic and political integration. It is characterized by tension between the principle of national sovereignty of member states and supranational standards sanctioned by the governing bodies of the bloc and directing the integration process.
It is customary to distinguish primary Community law (legal rules issued by the bodies of the bloc that have direct and immediate application in each member state, without any process of “internalization” of the Maastricht Treaty) from secondary Community law (legal rules established by the bloc for bodies that need, to be valid within the member states, a legal act of “internalization” performed by each national state).
The European Commission’s Decision
The European Commission sets out the reasons behind its decision approving the accession of Spain and Portugal to the European Communities.