Spaniards’ long march towards Europe

Article is part of a special issue entitled 'Spain and Portugal in the European Union. The first fifteen years'.
Article abstract:

This essay argues that Spaniards supported the integration of Spain into the European Economic Community because they wanted to lose the feeling of isolation that they had experiences for several decades during the Franco regime, and they were anxious to prove they were fully Europeans. This almost unanimous consensus in favour of integration into Europe, even after 15 years of membership, seems to be the consequence of Spain's need to overcome its historical isolation from the rest of Europe since the nineteenth century until the end of the Franco regime in 1975.