From EC to EMU: the Challenges for Spanish Convergence

Abstract

In January 1986, Spain and Portugal were admitted to the European Community (EC), in the third enlargement of the community established under the Treaty of Rome.3 For Spain, accession to the EC ended 24 years of the entry negotiations which succeeded the initial application for membership made under the Franco regime.4 It also marked a deepening of the economic relations between Spain and the EC, taking a step forward beyond the association agreement which the two had signed in 1970 under the Luxembourg Accord when a common market in agricultural and industrial goods was agreed (Harrison, 1993). Each successive advance made by the EU since 1986 has taken Spain further along the path of European integration, offering the promise of national economic and political development at each stage. And at each advance, Spain was forced to consider how the national policies might conform to the EU acquis communautaire, and how the economy could adapt and compete within the enlarged European economy.