Spain in the EU: the road to economic convergence

Spain and the EU takes the country's accession to the European Community in 1986 as its starting point and traces the changes in the national and regional economy, the shifts in national economic policy, and the fundamental restructuring of a public sector only recently enlarged as a result of the country's transition to democracy. The book identifies the challenges that continue to confront the Spanish polity under monetary integration in the pursuit of convergence towards the EU model, while retaining national cohesion. Aimed at an academic and general audience, the issues raised in this book have broader lessons for the management of integration at the national and sub-national level, particularly for new member states.

At the beginning of the 1980's, the anticipated benefits of Spanish accession to the European Community were essentially three-fold: establishing the legitimacy of the new democracy; modernization of the political and economic system; and improved economic welfare. In the fifteen years that followed Spain's entry to the EC in 1986, the country experienced major political, economic and social changes - partly attributable to the demands and pressures of EC membership, but no doubt also to the internal dynamic of social change and modernization. Mary Farrell examines Spain's experience of European integration, reviewing the impact on the real economy and on the national political economy, and identifying the extent of convergence and divergence from the European Union. Taking the Maastricht Treaty convergence criteria as the starting point, she explores the effects on national and regional economic development, the labour market and the public sector. A central aim is to identify the challenges posed by EU membership for the evolution of the public sector, itself the product of the modern democratic Spain, and in particular the relationship between the central government and the regional autonomous communities. European integration exerted enormous pressure on the state and the economy and EU financial flows became a decisive instrument of redistribution to compensate for regional inequalities. However, the biggest challenges facing Spain in the EU remain to be addressed in the context of future integration within an enlarged community

Spain and the EU takes the country's accession to the European Community in 1986 as its starting point and traces the changes in the national and regional economy, the shifts in national economic policy, and the fundamental restructuring of a public sector only recently enlarged as a result of the country's transition to democracy. The book identifies the challenges that continue to confront the Spanish polity under monetary integration in the pursuit of convergence towards the EU model, while retaining national cohesion. Aimed at an academic and general audience, the issues raised in this boo

Spain and the EU takes the country's accession to the European Community in 1986 as its starting point and traces the changes in the national and regional economy, the shifts in national economic policy, and the fundamental restructuring of a public sector only recently enlarged as a result of the country's transition to democracy. The book identifies the challenges that continue to confront the Spanish polity under monetary integration in the pursuit of convergence towards the EU model, while retaining national cohesion. Aimed at an academic and general audience, the issues raised in this book have broader lessons for the management of integration at the national and sub-national level, particularly for new member states