ABSTRACT
European Union Southern enlargements Theory test 71113 Shortly after the implosion of the dictatorships in Greece, Spain and Portugal in the mid-1970s their new governments lodged an application for EC membership. The 1974 'Carnation Revolution' forced the EC to reconsider the level of cooperation it aspired. It was the Armed Forces Movement that brought down Caetano to seal the end to the colonial wars. An important step towards a liberal democracy was the creation of the Junta of the Democratic Coordination established by the democratic opposition of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), some Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and anti-Communist Party Marxist groups in January 1976 marked the end of the hesitant and ambiguous Navarro government. In the Athens agreement decisions taken on three crucial issues. First and foremost, association aimed at the improvement of trade relations. The support for rapid democratisation through EC membership possibly overruled other concerns. Caetano domestically initiated limited liberalisation by conceding some fundamental political rights.
