ABSTRACT
Until the end of its long authoritarian eraunder dictator Francisco Franco (1939-1975), Spain was ineligible to enter the European Communities or even attain associate status with them and therefore stood on the sidelines as the critical early stages of European integration occurred. Even after moving toward constitutional democracy and beginning accession negotiations with the EC, Spain was unable to gain formal EC entry until 1986, due largely to difficulties of meeting the requirements of the EC and overcoming French resistance. Thus, Spain is the newcomer among the five pre-2004 major nation-states in the European Union, though Poland joined as a still-newer major member in 2004. The long Spanish desire for regeneration through Europeanization, noted by Ortega y Gasset in the introductory quotation above, is closely related to the popularity of European integration that continues to characterize Spain to a high degree.
