ABSTRACT
This chapter presents Spain, a southern member state of the European Union (EU), and a net recipient from the EU budget affected by the public debt crisis. The chapter starts with a general introduction to Spain and the country’s path to EU membership. It further gives a compact overview of Spain’s political system and key figures on its population and economy. The chapter continues with key highlights of political and public debates in Spain about European integration. The substantive third section of the chapter outlines the common patterns that emerged in the focus group discussions in Spain, particularly across the discussed scenarios presented to the participants and also between and within the three sociodemographic groups. The findings show that, overall, the positive attitudes of Spanish participants towards the EU were mixed with some degree of criticism. Nevertheless, the idea of solidarity between the EU member states was commonly supported. Interestingly, the perception of commitment to transnational solidarity among Spanish participants was closely linked to the feeling of indebtedness to the EU for previously received benefits.
