The Ten Plus Two: Spain and Portugal Join the European Community

THE TEN PLUS TWO: _________ SPAIN AND PORTUGAL JOIN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY Jonathan Story ..fter eight years of negotiations Spain and Portugal acceded to the European Communities (ec) in January 1986. The Community's negotiations with Spain and Portugal were finally concluded in March 1985. In June official ceremonies were held in Lisbon and Madrid to sign the membership treaties. While the ceremonies were conducted in a spirit of welcome, the moment was tinged with anxiety. Political motives had previously convinced the member states to clear the way for eventual Iberian membership. Yet doubt remains about whether the admission of the two will be compatible with the Community's planned revitalization. The terms of entry are so rigorous, and the texts of the treaties of membership are so vague and open to legal interpretation, that the specter of further lengthy revision of the terms, reminiscent of the negotiations for British and Greek entry, cannot be ruled out. The relative poverty of the new members may exacerbate the tensions due to economic disparities between member states. The enlargement talks have also strenthened the ec agricultural lobby, thereby ensuring that time and effort will be diverted from more forward-looking policies, such as the liberalization of the internal market. If enlargement is not to distract the ec from more urgent tasks, the Ten will have to agree on a program of action for political and economic integration as well as on the institutional reforms that will be required. As Italian Foreign Minister Jonathan Story is associate professor of international politics at the European Institute of Business Administration (insead), Fontainebleau, France. He is co-author, with Guy de Carnoy, of Western Europe in World Affairs, forthcoming from Praeger Publishers. 117 118 SAIS REVIEW Giulio Andreotti stated at the June ceremonies in Madrid, "All progress in the way of cohesion between the Twelve and in the improvement of our capacity to confront the technological challenges supposes from now on the adoption of community institutions."1 From the perspective of Lisbon and Madrid, entry to the ec was secured when all parliaments ratified the accession treaties in December 1985. The two Iberian states became full members as of 1 January 1986. Any economic hardships that may await the two countries will be spread over transition periods defined in the treaty texts, ranging from three to ten years according to sector or product line. Whatever Iberian farm, business, or labor representatives may feel about the risks of opening domestic markets to intense competition from the developed countries of Western Europe, a framework is now provided around which their expectations, strategies, and performances may be set. Furthermore , comfort may be taken in the Community's demonstration of solidarity with the new members by financing the new "integrated Mediterranean programs." (Prime Minister Adreas Papandreou had demanded this as a condition of Greece's participating in the ec's third enlargement.) The ec's readiness to meet the requirements of its poorer new members should leave it free to pursue its main task: developing a progressive policy and creating a more viable political entity. These goals were outlined in the Draft Treaty for a European Union, which was approved by absolute majority in the European Parliamentary Assembly in 1984. Spain and Portugal are therefore joining an ec whose member states are moving toward more effective political union, covering all aspects of policy, from Western European security to economic integration and culture. Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi sounded this optimistic note at the Madrid ceremonies when he stated: "The wills and new energiesjoining us will have a multiplier effect and will stimulate us to confront our new objectives."2 Both views—the cautiously anxious and the determinedly optimistic —share one common realization and a parallel set of ambitions. The common realization is that the enlargement to twelve members amounts to "an ordeal by fire,"3 testing the ec's credibility as a project for integration on a continental scale. For Spain and Portugal membership in the community is the culmination of a longstanding ambition to form part of the new Europe, or more prosaically, to achieve full membership in the First World, rather than dwell on its doorstep. For both...