Setting EU Eastern Enlargement Policy: Spain's Preferences for an Inclusive Process

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After the European Union's (EU's) history-making decision to enlarge eastwards, other policy-setting decisions had to be taken, especially concerning when and under what conditions each candidate should join. This article offers a case study of the Enlargement policy of successive Spanish governments, socialist and conservative, during the period 1992–99. It demonstrates that Spanish government representatives defined state preferences in accordance with the EU's normative framework and reshaped them in the discursive process leading to a final agreement. It suggests that Spanish government preferences within the EU should not be considered exogenous to the interaction process and the EU collective identity.