Transcript Spanish Politics and Society

Spanish Politics and Society
University of Chicago
Raimundo Viejo Viñas
Office 20.182
www.raimundoviejo.info
[email protected]
Spain and the European Union
The Europeanization of the Spanish
Political System
Historical background
 Europe's history is the history of an incessant
struggle between five political powers: Rome/Italy,
Spain, France, England, and Germany
 Since the 18th century, however, the Spanish
Empire began a permanent decline until the present
times
 Today Spain is a second-level power within the
European Union between Poland and the four
european great powers: Germany, England, France,
and Italy (members of the G-8)
Historical background, 2
 During the twentieth century Spain did not take sides
in the two world wars. Neutrality reinforced Spain’s
isolation: Spanish people started to believe that
“España comienza en los Pirineos”
 After the Second World War, Spain could not benefit
from U.S. support (the so-called Marshall Plan). While
Europe’s reconstruction began in the late 1940s and
1950s, Spain remained isolated for forty years
 In the 1960s Franco’s dictatorship changed its
orientation from changed its orientation from autarky
(economic isolation) to integration in the Western
world.
The European integration
 European integration is the process of political,
economic, social and cultural integration of states
wholly or partially in Europe.
 European integration began in 1951, when a few
Western European states agreed to confer powers
over their steel and coal production to the European
Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in the Treaty of
Paris (1952).
 The next step into a European Unity was made in
1958, when the European Economic Community (EEC)
was founded as an international organisation. France,
Germany, Italy, and the BENELUX (Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg) were its founders.
The European integration, 2
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Between 1973 and 1993 the European Communities saw
the first enlargement of the Communities and increasing
integration under the Delors Commission
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1973:
1981:
1985:
1990:
England, Danemark, and Ireland
Greece
Spain and Portugal
East Germany
Following the Maastricht Treaty (1992) the European Union
(UE) is created in 1993. New countries become members of
the UE:
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1994: Austria, Sweden, and Finland.
2004: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia
2007: Romania and Bulgaria
Spain and the European integration
 Today Spain is part of the core of Europe
 Spain is integrated in all the supranational
european bodies
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The Council of Europe
Schengen free circulation area
European economic area
Euro-zone (monetary unity)
European Customs Union
European Union
European supranational bodies
Europeanization of Spanish politics
 Membership of the EU led to adaptation and change
within the Spanish political regime
 Most of the Spanish legislation is produced within
European limits. In fact, the sovereignty of the
national states within the EU is limited.
 Since the Treaty of Nice (2000), however, different
levels of integration are possible within the EU (it is
the so-called “two-speed Europe”)
Institutional links EU-Spain
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Changes in political regime equally affected the legislative,
the executive and the judiciary
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At the executive level, the European integration affected …
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… the creation of new bodies
… the introduction of european issues in the political agenda
…the internal structure of some departaments
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At the legislative level, the Spanish parliament transferred
part of their legislative autonomy
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At the judicial level, the EU integration also meant
accepting the jurisdiction of the European courts on
different issues
Europeanization of Spanish politics
 The European integration influenced strongly Spanish
politics:
 …it consolidated democratization after the Spanish
political transition through the integration of the
military and the conservative political parties
 …it strengthened the alliance of Spanish political
parties with their European allies
 …it changed Spanish national identity in a more
cosmopolitan sense (less nationalistic) and reinforced
regional identities at the same time