ABSTRACT
The democracy rule effectively excluded Greece, Portugal and Spain from membership during their time under dictatorships. Greece, which had already negotiated associate status with the EC several years before the military coup which overthrew its democratic regime in 1967, after democratic government was restored in 1974. Given the reputedly weak Greek administrative capacity, the European Commission proposed a trial period prior to full EC membership. But it was overruled by the Council of Ministers, under pressure from the US, keen, it was said, to reinsert Greece into western democratic structures as quickly as possible. Portugal and Spain also applied for membership within a year or two of the Portuguese 'carnation' revolution of 1974. European political foundations, led by the Social Democratic Friedrich Ebert Foundation of West Germany, were enlisted to fund, groom and advise traditional parties from the centre-right to the centre-left so as to limit communist participation in the 'new' Iberian democracies.
