ABSTRACT
In general, both the public and parties alike have shown strong signs of pro-Europeanism since Spain became a EU member in 1986. This proEuropeanist attitude was recently manifest during the referendum on the constitutional treaty in February 2005. The referendum results underline two facts. First, there was general support toward the European integration process as reflected in the 76.73 percent of voters that backed the European constitution. Second, there was a low level of participation (42.3 percent) coupled with a lack of knowledge of the actual details of the constitutional text.1 These facts point to a passive acceptance rather than an active assessment in the citizens’ support toward the EU. At the core of this perception lays the understanding of the EU as a “modernization” force in contrast to the inward-looking and international isolationism of the former authoritarian regime (Jauregui 2002). Moreover, this support is also fostered by the positive attitude of Spanish political parties toward the EU.
