Some Lessons from the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Accession of Portugal and Spain to the European Union

Abstract

This study examines the integration process and how it has affected political, economic and social developments in Portugal and in Spain over the last 15 years. Since the last century, the obsession of Spanish and Portuguese reformists has been to make up the lost ground with modernized Europe. EU membership has been a critical step in this direction. The record of the past 15 years is that this dream is becoming an economic reality. Despite impressive achievements, however, namely, since 1986, Portugal's average per capita income has grown from 56 per cent of the EU average to about 74 per cent, whereas Spain's has grown to 83 per cent - both Iberian countries still have a long way to go to reach the EU average wealth.