ABSTRACT
Accession to the EC was an old Spanish aspiration. An application for membership was first made in 1962, although it was rejected because of the lack of democratic credentials of the Franco regime. Instead, a preferential agreement was negotiated and the country had to wait until 1977 when the return of democracy permitted a successful application. Accession negotiations were long and difficult, and full membership was only achieved in 1986. The prospect of EC membership was one of the stabilising elements in the transition towards democracy, by acting as a selective incentive for it. Membership meant, for political elites and public opinion alike, the return to the Western world from which the country felt excluded. The EC had a legitimising effect on the new Spanish democracy because of Community members' permanent criticism and rejection and occasional condemnation of Franco's regime. This, and more specifically the exclusion from membership, was exhibited by Spanish Democratic opposition as proof of the lack of legitimacy of Franco's regime. Logically, US support of Franco's regime provoked the opposite perception of NATO. This readiness to integrate was reflected by the inclusion, in the 1978 Constitution, of Article 93, which allows constitutional powers to be vested in international institutions.
