The EEC, the Franco regime, and the Socialist group in the European Parliament, 196277

In February 1962 Spain made its first approach to the EEC and applied for EEC membership. Eight years later, in June 1970, the EEC signed a Preferential Trade Agreement with Spain, something far short of what it had sought. The nature of the Franco regime was the main obstacle in the way of full integration into Europe, which was finally achieved in 1986. This article examines the response of the Socialists in the European Parliament to the Spanish approach to the EEC between 1962 to 1977. The first part will consider the years 196270, from the first Spanish application to the EEC up to the signing of the Preferential Trade Agreement. The Spanish application was challenged on several occasions by the Socialist group, most notably by the intervention of Willi Birkelbach in 1962. The second part will cover the period 197077, up to the first democratic elections in Spain. Although the European Parliament did not have the power to decide on enlargement of the EEC, the Socialist members in particular used it as a forum to criticise the Franco regime's lack of democratic and civil rights credentials for membership.