‘Four decades ago, Spain returned to its European home’ says former Spanish ambassador to the EU

MADRID – On the 40th anniversary of this milestone, Euractiv sat down with Juan Pablo García-Berdoy, former Spanish ambassador to the EU. He has previously served as Spain's ambassador to Romania, Moldova and Germany, as well as director-general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Spain signed the Accession Treaty to the then European Economic Community (EEC) on June 12 1985.

Before joining the EU, Spain was a formidable agricultural power, sparking concerns in countries such as France, which were wary of competition for their own farmers – a situation that mirrors current debates surrounding Ukraine’s potential EU integration.

Following Franco's death in 1975, Spain emerged from decades of dictatorship deeply polarised, with the wounds of division still raw. But EU membership became a unifying force, fostering reconciliation and anchoring Spain in a democratic European framework.

Economically, Spain’s journey through the EU has been both remarkable and turbulent. Accession in 1986 opened up markets, boosted trade and modernised the economy. Adopting the euro in 1999 further solidified Spain’s integration, but the eurozone crisis of 2008–2012 exposed vulnerabilities, with soaring unemployment and austerity measures testing the country's resilience.

Today, Spain is the EU’s fourth-largest economy and a leader in renewable energy, tourism and high-speed rail. It is navigating challenges such as domestic separatist movements in Catalonia and in the Basque country, as well as post-Covid recovery and global trade tensions.

In this interview, Ambassador García-Berdoy shares his insights on how Spain’s accession to the ECC brought the Iberian country back to the European and international arena following the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.

A 2024 Eurobarometer revealed that seven out of ten Spaniards, 70%, felt attached to the EU, well above the European average. Is this a cliché?

Several milestones led to Spain’s positive attitude towards the EU. Firstly, the identification of the country’s accession to the European Communities with political change and the consolidation of democracy in Spain, which I believe older generations feel more directly.

We felt that our situation outside the ECC did not correspond to our reality as Spaniards. In other words, we felt European as we were returning to our natural home. And this feeling of return is still alive.

We are not isolated; we are not different. Spain is not different, we are part of a large European family, and that was the message, then and now.

Despite European optimism, is there a need to raise more awareness about the EU in Spain?

I think there is a great need for it. Citizens do not understand that we belong to a shared sovereignty. On the one hand, Spaniards are not passive citizens, there is a civic duty towards common sovereignty. Spaniards might be prone to a more passive attitude, not only citizens, but businessmen and, in some cases, even the political class. In other words: we are responsible for a common project.

What were the greatest difficulties the country had to overcome to finally join the European Economic Community?

The French blockade was a major obstacle due to competition from the Spanish agricultural sector and increasing fears about other economic sectors. German support was very important at the time for a coherent integration of the Iberian Peninsula in the EU.

Let us not forget that Portugal and Spain were hand in hand in a common endeavour to join Europe, which was incomplete without the two Iberian countries. In my opinion, the fundamental achievement was the ability of Spanish politicians and its technical and business elites to agree to work on that common endeavour.

We had a highly intervened economy with a series of obstacles in competitiveness and the public sector, with many reforms pending.

What role did the friendship between the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Felipe Gonzalez play?

Well, Helmut Kohl's (CDU-EPP) friendship with former Spanish PM Felipe González (PSOE) came, so to speak, later. But it did serve to complete a process of complicity and strategic rapprochement. I was stationed in Bonn as the Spanish Adviser for European Affairs and saw first-hand the very constructive relationship between a Spanish Social Democrat leader and a German Christian Democrat leader.

We should never forget that it is very important to influence Europe but also to contribute to Europe. In other words, it is very important to be an asset, and Felipe Gonzalez and former Spanish PM José María Aznar (PP/EPP) understood this very well. It has been understood by Spanish PMs who have approached integration and membership as part of a common project in which Spain had to contribute its own interests but also to contribute to the solution of the interests of others.

If you had to highlight some of the main milestones that Spain achieved in the last 40 years in the EU, which ones would it be?

I believe that the most important milestone for Spain, which is not highlighted enough, is the opening of the economy and the entry into an internal market, a market with the vocation of being a single market. That was a great milestone.

(cs,mk)