Spain- wrote:

March 12, 1986 - March 3, 1996

Resumen de los acontecimientos ocurridos en España a lo largo de 10 años. Parte 1: Los años de González.


Summary of the events that occurred in Spain over 10 years. Part 1: The González Years.

C U B R I E N D O   L A   H I S T O R I A ¹

Nuestra esperanza está en Cristo; este pequeño monte será la salvación de España y del pueblo de los godos; la misericordia de Cristo nos librará de aquella multitud.

Our hope is in Christ; this little mountain will be the salvation of Spain and of the people of the Goths; the mercy of Christ will free us from that multitude.

MADRID, PUERTA DEL SOL — DAY
_{MADRID, Spain-}

| The Kingdom of Spain experienced a decade of political, religious, economic and international change between 1986 and 1996. Prime Minister Felipe González and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party continued their long period in government, overseeing Spain's growing role in Europe and abroad while repeatedly clashing with the Catholic Church and the centre-right opposition over the constitutional character of the Kingdom. This is what happened in Spain from the NATO referendum of March 1986 to the election that ended thirteen years of Socialist government in March 1996. |

March 12, 1986

| The national referendum on Spain's continued membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was held. After an intense campaign, 56.85% voted for Spain to remain in NATO while 43.15% voted to leave, with turnout reaching 59.4%. The result confirmed Spain's continued membership under the conditions promised by the government: Spain would not be incorporated into NATO's integrated military command structure, nuclear weapons would not be stationed on Spanish territory, and the American military presence would be gradually reduced. Prime Minister Felipe González declared that Spain would remain committed to the defense of Europe while retaining sovereign control over Spanish territory and the Armed Forces. |

June 22, 1986

| General elections were held after four years of government by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Despite growing controversy surrounding Prime Minister Felipe González over unemployment, abortion, relations with the Catholic Church and European integration, PSOE remained the largest political force and González secured another mandate. King Juan Carlos I subsequently nominated González for another term as President of the Government following consultations with the parliamentary parties, and González again received the confidence of the Congress of Deputies. |

September 1986

| Relations between the González government and the Catholic hierarchy deteriorated further over the abortion legislation enacted the previous year. The 1985 law permitted abortion under limited circumstances involving serious danger to the mother's life or health, pregnancy resulting from rape, or serious fetal abnormality. The Spanish Episcopal Conference continued to condemn abortion as incompatible with Catholic teaching concerning the protection of unborn life, while PSOE maintained that the Cortes possessed constitutional authority to legislate civil and criminal law despite the Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith being the official religion of the Spanish State. |

November 1986

| Catholic doctors and medical associations raised concerns that physicians could be compelled to participate in abortions contrary to their religious or moral convictions. The Constitutional Court recognized that freedom of conscience protected medical personnel directly involved in the procedure from compulsory participation. The judgment nevertheless left the 1985 abortion legislation itself in force, establishing an important distinction between what Spanish civil law permitted and what an individual Spaniard could personally be compelled to do. |

February 1987

| Encouraged by PSOE's continued parliamentary strength, Prime Minister González announced that his government would seek a constitutional revision of relations between Church and State. González argued that Catholicism would remain an essential part of Spain's history and society, but that the Spanish State itself should cease possessing an official religion. The proposal immediately became the greatest constitutional controversy since the Constitution entered into force. |

March 1987

| The government formally proposed removing the Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith's status as the official religion of the Spanish State and revising several of the Catholic Church's special constitutional rights, prerogatives and privileges. Because the proposal directly affected provisions protected by Article 168, PSOE could not employ the ordinary constitutional amendment procedure. Two-thirds of the total membership of both Houses would first have to approve the principle of revision, after which the Cortes would be dissolved, general elections held, the newly elected Cortes required to approve the revised constitutional text again by two-thirds, and the completed amendment submitted to the Spanish Nation in referendum. |

April 1987

| González defended secularization before the Congress of Deputies, arguing that the proposed amendment would not abolish Catholic worship, confiscate Church property, prohibit Catholic education or deprive Catholics of their civil rights. Centre-right parties replied that PSOE was attempting to overturn a fundamental part of the constitutional settlement approved by the Spanish people. The Spanish Episcopal Conference called upon Catholics to defend the established constitutional position of the Church while insisting that opposition remain peaceful and operate entirely through the democratic constitutional process. |

May 1987

| The proposed constitutional revision failed to obtain the required two-thirds majority in both Houses. The Article 168 procedure therefore ended before the Cortes could be dissolved. González accepted the parliamentary defeat and acknowledged that Catholic establishment could not be abolished without the heightened democratic procedure required by the Constitution. Article 16 remained unchanged, and the Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith remained the official religion of the Spanish State. |

June 1987 - January 1988

| Having failed to secularize Spain through constitutional amendment, PSOE changed strategy. Ministers argued that Article 168 protected the constitutional text but did not prevent an elected government from adopting secular public policies in matters not expressly guaranteed to the Catholic Church. The government introduced stricter financial oversight of publicly supported ecclesiastical institutions, attempted to narrow certain fiscal privileges, expanded secular alternatives to religious education and reduced Catholic practices in some ordinary government institutions. Opposition parties accused González of attempting "secularization by ordinary law," while PSOE insisted that it was exercising the normal legislative authority of an elected government. |

February 1988

| The Constitutional Court delivered what became one of the defining judgments concerning Articles 16 and 168. Cortes Generales possessed broad authority to regulate the administration of Church-State relations, the Court held, but ordinary legislation could not indirectly accomplish a constitutional alteration for which Article 168 expressly required amendment. Regulation of constitutionally protected rights and privileges was permissible; their disguised abolition was not. The doctrine became an important limitation upon subsequent attempts by the González government to secularize State institutions through ordinary legislation. |

September 1988

| Another constitutional dispute emerged over historic churches, monasteries and other ecclesiastical buildings maintained partly through public heritage funds. Several local authorities argued that buildings of exceptional national historical importance should be subject to extensive State control. Church authorities invoked Article 16's explicit protection of ecclesiastical ownership. The Constitutional Court ruled that public authorities could impose lawful conservation requirements and provide restoration funding, but designation as historical, artistic or cultural patrimony did not transfer ownership from a diocese, religious order or other ecclesiastical institution to the State. |

January 1989

| Alianza Popular and allied centre-right political currents reorganized themselves into the Partido Popular. Conservatives, Christian democrats, economic liberals and constitutional monarchists increasingly gathered within the new organization. The People's Party accepted religious liberty and democratic pluralism while defending the constitutional monarchy, the unity of Spain and the established constitutional position of the Catholic Church under Article 16. |

1989

| European policy increasingly divided PSOE and the newly reorganized People's Party. Both parties supported Spain's longstanding membership in the European Communities and neither advocated withdrawal. Felipe González increasingly favored deeper political, monetary and institutional integration among the European states. The PP instead began developing the concept of a "Europe of sovereign nations": extensive economic, security and diplomatic cooperation among European countries while ultimate constitutional authority remained with the Spanish Nation, the Crown and the Cortes Generales. |

October 29, 1989

| General elections were held. PSOE again emerged as the governing party and Felipe González remained President of the Government, while the reorganized People's Party established itself as the principal centre-right opposition. González entered another term committed to economic modernization and deeper European cooperation, but the emergence of a consolidated PP demonstrated that Socialist political dominance was no longer uncontested. |

1990 - 1991

| Education became the principal domestic battlefield between the Socialist government and the Catholic Church. PSOE introduced sweeping reforms intended to modernize schools, strengthen national academic standards and increase the secular character of publicly administered education. Some Socialist deputies demanded the complete removal of Catholic instruction from ordinary public schools. Government lawyers warned that such action would directly contradict Article 16, which expressly required Catholic religious instruction to be available within the public educational system. |

August 2, 1990

| Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. The Spanish government condemned the invasion and supported United Nations demands for Iraqi withdrawal. The crisis immediately tested Spain's foreign-policy balance: the Kingdom remained a NATO member and close Western partner while also maintaining important political and economic relations throughout the Arab world. González emphasized that Spanish action would be based upon international law and United Nations authority rather than an independent declaration of war against Iraq. |

August 6, 1990

| Following United Nations Security Council Resolution 661 and the establishment of international sanctions against Iraq, Spain agreed to participate in enforcement of the maritime embargo. The González government stated that Spain's objective was to compel Iraqi withdrawal and restore the sovereignty of Kuwait rather than conquer or occupy Iraq. |

August 26, 1990

| The Spanish Navy deployed the frigate Santa María and the corvettes Descubierta and Cazadora to participate in the multinational maritime operation in the Persian Gulf. Spanish air assets also supported the mission. The deployment became one of the most important overseas operations undertaken by the Spanish Armed Forces during the reign of Juan Carlos I and placed Spanish naval personnel alongside forces from Western and Muslim states enforcing the United Nations embargo against Iraq. |

Autumn 1990

| The Gulf deployment produced controversy in the Cortes and among the Spanish public. Critics on the left accused González of allowing Spain to become drawn toward an American-led Middle Eastern war despite the conditions attached to the 1986 NATO referendum. The government replied that Spain was enforcing United Nations resolutions and that participation in collective international security did not surrender Spain's independent decision-making authority. The People's Party generally supported resistance to Iraqi aggression while demanding that the government keep Parliament fully informed of Spanish military commitments. |

January 17, 1991

| Operation Desert Storm began after Iraq failed to withdraw from Kuwait. The González government permitted Spanish facilities to provide logistical support to allied operations while maintaining a distinction between Spain's participation in the United Nations-authorized maritime embargo and direct participation in the American-led air campaign. Spanish naval forces continued their mission connected with enforcement of international sanctions. |

February 1991

| As the coalition air campaign intensified, González publicly expressed concern over civilian casualties inside Iraq while continuing to demand complete Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait. The government maintained that liberation of Kuwait was legitimate but that military force had to remain proportionate to the international mandate and should not become a war against the Iraqi civilian population. |

February 28, 1991

| Kuwait was liberated and major coalition offensive operations ceased. González declared that international aggression could not be permitted to erase the sovereignty of another State while emphasizing that Spain sought neither territorial gains nor permanent war with Iraq. The conflict reinforced PSOE's belief in multilateral European and international security cooperation, while PP increasingly argued that international cooperation must always remain subject to Spanish constitutional sovereignty. |

April - June 1991

| Following the Gulf War, Spain participated in humanitarian assistance for Kurdish civilians suffering from repression and displacement in northern Iraq. The Agrupación Táctica Alcalá deployed hundreds of Spanish personnel to provide food, medical treatment, transportation and other humanitarian assistance. The operation represented a transition from enforcement of the international embargo to direct humanitarian relief for civilians affected by the conflict. |

June 1991

| Spain expanded its participation in European arrangements for freer movement across national borders. González portrayed closer European cooperation as evidence that sovereignty could be exercised jointly to increase Spanish influence. PP accepted the practical advantages of freer movement but demanded that Spain retain the authority to restore border controls in circumstances involving terrorism, national security or serious threats to public order. |

November 1991

| Another confrontation with the Catholic Church erupted over State financial support. PSOE argued that Article 16 required the State to support the Church but did not establish a fixed amount. The Episcopal Conference warned that deliberately reducing assistance to a merely symbolic level would constitute indirect abolition of a constitutional privilege. The Constitutional Court eventually held that Cortes Generales possessed substantial discretion concerning the amount and method of financing, but could not eliminate meaningful State financial support entirely while Article 16 remained unchanged. |

January 14, 1992

| King Juan Carlos I restored the historical territorial designation to the Spanish noble title descended from Emperor Moctezuma II, recognizing the dignity as the Duchy of Moctezuma de Tultengo. The title, associated with the Grandeza de España, represented the extraordinary survival within the Spanish nobility of a direct dynastic line descending from Moctezuma II. The reigning 5th Duke, Juan José Marcilla de Teruel-Moctezuma y Jiménez, and his son and heir, Juan José Marcilla de Teruel-Moctezuma y Valcárcel, would both become associated with the approaching Fifth Centenary commemorations. |

February 7, 1992

| Spain joined its European partners in signing the Treaty of Maastricht. González strongly supported the creation of the European Union and argued that democratic European nations could exercise increasing portions of sovereignty jointly without destroying their national identities. PP supported Spain's continuing membership and extensive European cooperation but warned against allowing European institutions to acquire permanent constitutional authority that could no longer be controlled by the Spanish electorate. |

April 20, 1992

| King Juan Carlos I formally opened the Universal Exposition of Seville on the Isla de la Cartuja. Under the theme "The Age of Discoveries," Expo '92 became the centerpiece of Spain's commemoration of five hundred years since the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. Nations from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the wider world established pavilions presenting their cultures, history, science and technology. The exposition was scheduled to remain open until October 12, the five-hundredth anniversary of Columbus reaching the Americas. |

Spring - Summer 1992

| The Fifth Centenary was commemorated throughout Spain by historical exhibitions, academic congresses, naval ceremonies, restoration of monuments associated with Columbus, commemorative coins and voyages by replicas of the Niña, Pinta and Santa María. Palos de la Frontera, La Rábida, Moguer, Seville and other locations associated with Columbus and the first voyage became centers of national and international commemorations. The celebrations increasingly became one of the largest cultural undertakings of the reign of Juan Carlos I. |

July - August 1992

| Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympic Games, further transforming 1992 into one of the greatest international showcases in modern Spanish history. Madrid simultaneously served as European Capital of Culture, while millions traveled throughout Spain for the Olympics, Expo '92 and the Fifth Centenary. The González government presented the year as evidence of Spain's transformation into a modern democratic and international power, while the Crown emphasized continuity between the historical Kingdom of Spain and the contemporary constitutional monarchy. |

October 12, 1992 — The Fifth Centenary

| Spain commemorated the five hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus reaching the Americas. King Juan Carlos I, Queen Sofía, members of the Royal Family, Prime Minister Felipe González, senior Catholic clergy, representatives of the Cortes Generales, Spanish Grandees, foreign delegations and representatives from throughout the Hispanic world participated in the principal ceremonies associated with the anniversary and the closing of Expo '92. |

| Among the honored participants was Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal y Gorosábel, 18th Duke of Veragua and Grandee of Spain, a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus through Columbus's son Diego. A Spanish naval officer as well as holder of the historic Columbian duchy, the Duke represented the surviving family line of the Admiral whose voyage the ceremonies commemorated. |

| Also present were Juan José Marcilla de Teruel-Moctezuma y Jiménez, 5th Duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo, and his son and heir Juan José Marcilla de Teruel-Moctezuma y Valcárcel, descendants of Emperor Moctezuma II. Their presence created one of the most symbolic images of the Fifth Centenary: descendants of Christopher Columbus and Moctezuma II participating together in a ceremony of modern constitutional Spain five centuries after the first encounter between their respective historical worlds. |

| The King used the occasion not merely to celebrate exploration and Spanish achievement but also to recognize that the encounter between Europe and the Americas had produced conquest, conflict, cultural destruction, Christian conversion, migration, intermarriage and ultimately the creation of new peoples and societies. González similarly emphasized cooperation between modern Spain and the independent nations of the Americas rather than any claim to revive the former Spanish Empire. |

October 12, 1992 — Closing of Expo '92

| The Universal Exposition of Seville formally closed after nearly six months. The enormous undertaking had transformed La Cartuja and left Seville with new bridges, transportation infrastructure, cultural facilities and extensive urban redevelopment. Juan Carlos described the exposition and Fifth Centenary as symbols of Spain's renewed confidence and international position at the end of the twentieth century. |

Late 1992

| The Fifth Centenary celebrations did not eliminate controversy. Indigenous and anti-colonial organizations criticized the traditional language of "discovery" and argued that 1492 also marked the beginning of conquest, warfare, disease and enormous suffering among the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The government defended the commemorations while increasingly describing the historical process as an "encounter between worlds" rather than presenting five centuries of Spanish-American history as an uncomplicated triumph. The participation of the Moctezuma family gave the debate particular symbolic significance within Spain itself. |

October - December 1992

| Debate over European monetary union intensified following Maastricht. PSOE supported eventual Spanish participation in a common European currency, regarding monetary union as the logical continuation of European integration. PP increasingly warned that abandoning the peseta would transfer control over interest rates, currency and monetary policy away from Spain's constitutional institutions. No final decision was taken, but the dispute established the foundations for one of the largest European political controversies of the following decade. |

Early 1993

| González entered another election year politically weakened despite the international successes of 1992. Unemployment remained a major national concern, allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds increasingly surrounded Socialist officials, and PSOE was divided between moderate social democrats and members demanding more extensive secularization and European integration. Years of confrontation with the Catholic Church had also damaged relations between the government and many Catholic Spaniards. |

June 6, 1993

| General elections produced a substantially more competitive Cortes. PSOE remained the largest political force and González secured another term as President of the Government, but José María Aznar's People's Party had dramatically narrowed the political distance between government and opposition. González entered what would become his final government with considerably less political freedom than during the height of Socialist dominance. |

Late 1993

| PSOE's secular wing renewed demands for further reform of Church-State relations. The government ordered reviews of Catholic symbols and practices within ordinary State administrative offices. PP accused González of continuing the strategy of secularization through ordinary legislation after losing the Article 168 battle. The government replied that establishment of the Catholic faith did not transform every tax office, ministry and civil-service workplace into an ecclesiastical institution. |

1994

| The Constitutional Court ruled that Article 16 did not require crucifixes, devotional images or Catholic ceremonies inside every ordinary government office. Ministries could regulate their ordinary administrative spaces. The Court nevertheless distinguished these workplaces from official State religious ceremonies, Catholic military chaplaincies and other institutions explicitly protected by Article 16. Both government and Church therefore claimed portions of the judgment as a victory. |

1994 - 1995

| Relations between PSOE and the Catholic Church remained strained. Socialist secularists called for another Article 168 attempt to abolish Catholic establishment, but González refused to begin a constitutional process that still lacked the required two-thirds parliamentary support. He instead defended the government's authority to legislate civil policy while acknowledging that Article 16 itself could only be altered through the extraordinary amendment procedure, renewed elections and popular ratification prescribed by the Constitution. |

1995

| Abortion again became a national controversy as Socialist legislators discussed expanding access beyond the limited framework established in 1985. The Catholic hierarchy strongly opposed further liberalization, while PP also opposed a major expansion. González ultimately stopped short of establishing unrestricted abortion on demand. The existing statutory framework remained in force, while medical administration and access were standardized and constitutional protection for conscientious objection continued. |

1995

| European integration simultaneously became an increasingly important partisan divide. González argued that Spain should participate in the emerging core of European political and monetary integration and eventually adopt the proposed common currency. Aznar argued that Spain's longstanding membership in the European project did not oblige the Kingdom to support every transfer of sovereign authority. PP increasingly articulated its alternative vision: Spain in Europe, but Spain sovereign. |

Late 1995

| Political scandals increasingly overwhelmed the Socialist government. Allegations involving misuse of public funds, tax irregularities, illegal espionage and abuses connected to State institutions dominated parliamentary debate. Persistent unemployment further damaged PSOE's political standing. González defended the modernization of Spain accomplished during thirteen years of Socialist government but acknowledged that public confidence in his administration had deteriorated. |

January 1996

| The approaching general election increasingly became a judgment on thirteen years of Socialist government. PSOE defended its welfare policies, social reforms, modernization of infrastructure, internationalization of Spain and commitment to deeper European integration. PP presented an alternative centered upon economic reform, governmental accountability, defense of the constitutional settlement with the Catholic Church and a European policy based upon cooperation between sovereign States. |

March 3, 1996 — General Election

| The general election brought the Socialist era to an end. The People's Party won 156 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 122 seats in the Senate, while the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party won 141 seats in the Congress and 81 seats in the Senate. PSOE's defeat ended thirteen years of Socialist control of the government. |

| The result followed years of accumulated political pressure: persistent unemployment, allegations involving misuse of public funds, tax evasion and illegal espionage, internal PSOE divisions, repeated constitutional confrontations with the Catholic Church and an increasingly visible disagreement over the future direction of European integration. |

| José María Aznar, leader of the People's Party, emerged as the expected next President of the Government. Felipe González prepared to leave office after thirteen years, ending an era that had witnessed the NATO referendum, the abortion controversy, the failed attempt to secularize the Constitution, repeated Church-State confrontations, the Gulf War, Maastricht, the Barcelona Olympics, Expo '92 and the extraordinary Fifth Centenary commemorations of 1492. |

| Spain now stood at the beginning of another political era. The constitutional establishment of the Catholic Church had survived González. The Kingdom remained firmly within the European Union and NATO. Yet another question was approaching that would determine Spain's relationship with European integration in the twenty-first century: whether participation in an increasingly united Europe required the Kingdom to surrender its monetary sovereignty and replace the historic Spanish peseta with the proposed euro. |

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_{¹ A Series: CUBRIENDO LA HISTORIA, covering events from March 1986 to November 2003.}

Spain- wrote:

March 3, 1996 - January 2003

Resumen de los acontecimientos ocurridos en España a lo largo de casi 7 años. Parte 2: Los años de Aznar.


Summary of the events that occurred in Spain over nearly 7 years. Part 2: The Aznar Years.

C U B R I E N D O   L A   H I S T O R I A ¹

Nuestra esperanza está en Cristo; este pequeño monte será la salvación de España y del pueblo de los godos; la misericordia de Cristo nos librará de aquella multitud.

Our hope is in Christ; this little mountain will be the salvation of Spain and of the people of the Goths; the mercy of Christ will free us from that multitude.

MADRID, PUERTA DEL SOL — DAY
_{MADRID, Spain-}

| The Kingdom of Spain entered a new political era following the general election of March 3, 1996. The victory of the People's Party brought thirteen years of Socialist government to an end and elevated José María Aznar to the presidency of the Government. Over the following years Spain experienced economic reform, renewed relations between the State and the Catholic Church, terrorism, conflicts abroad and an increasingly consequential debate over European integration and national sovereignty. This is what happened in Spain between the People's Party's 1996 election victory and January 2003. |

March 3, 1996

| The People's Party emerged victorious in the general election, winning 156 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 122 seats in the Senate, while the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party fell to 141 deputies and 81 senators. The result brought thirteen years of Socialist government under Felipe González to an end. PP nevertheless lacked sufficient strength to govern entirely alone, forcing José María Aznar to begin negotiations with smaller parliamentary parties to secure the confidence necessary to form a government. |

March - April 1996

| King Juan Carlos I held consultations with the representatives of the political parties represented in the Cortes Generales before nominating José María Aznar as candidate for President of the Government. Negotiations continued between PP and smaller parliamentary groups as Aznar sought sufficient support for his investiture. The peaceful transition demonstrated that political power could alternate between the Socialist left and the centre-right without threatening the constitutional monarchy or democratic institutions of the Kingdom. |

May 4, 1996

| José María Aznar received the confidence of the Congress of Deputies and was elected President of the Government. His investiture ended the long González era and prepared the way for the first national government led by the People's Party. |

May 5, 1996

| King Juan Carlos I formally appointed José María Aznar as President of the Government. At the Royal Palace, Aznar swore to faithfully discharge the responsibilities of his office, obey the Constitution and laws, and maintain loyalty to the Crown. The King subsequently appointed the ministers proposed by the new President, completing the transfer of executive authority from PSOE to PP. |

May - June 1996

| The new government announced three immediate domestic priorities: reducing unemployment, restoring public confidence in State institutions following the scandals of the González era, and encouraging economic growth through greater fiscal discipline, privatization of selected State enterprises and liberalization of parts of the Spanish economy. PP insisted that economic reform did not require destruction of the welfare state, arguing instead that sustained employment and social expenditure depended upon a stronger private economy and healthier public finances. |

June 1996

| Relations between the Government and the Catholic Church improved rapidly. Aznar announced that his administration would respect the entirety of Article 16, including both the established constitutional position, rights and privileges of the Roman Catholic Church and the freedom of conscience guaranteed to Catholics, members of other religions and persons professing no religion. The government abandoned attempts to narrow constitutionally protected Church privileges through ordinary legislation while accepting the Constitutional Court jurisprudence established during the González years. |

September 1996

| The Spanish Episcopal Conference welcomed the improvement in Church-State relations while emphasizing that the Church was not an institution of the People's Party. The bishops continued opposing the 1985 abortion law and called for stronger protection of unborn life, Catholic education and families. Aznar nevertheless declined to immediately repeal the existing abortion framework, arguing that his government had inherited a settled statutory and constitutional situation while facing more immediate economic and institutional priorities. |

November 1996

| The future of Spain's relationship with NATO's military command structure became the first major foreign-policy controversy of the Aznar government. NATO encouraged Spain to participate fully in its reorganized integrated military command, while PSOE argued that Spain could not demand maximum influence over Alliance strategy while remaining partially outside its permanent command institutions. |

| Aznar's government rejected full integration. PP argued that the conditions approved by the Spanish Nation in the 1986 referendum possessed exceptional democratic legitimacy and should not be reversed merely through an ordinary parliamentary decision. Spain would remain a committed NATO member, contribute forces to agreed missions, participate in exercises and cooperate extensively in planning, but the Spanish Armed Forces would remain ultimately under Spanish national command except when the Government expressly authorized their participation in a particular multinational operation. |

| PSOE accused Aznar of unnecessarily limiting Spanish influence inside NATO. PP replied that military cooperation did not require the permanent surrender of national command. The controversy established a principle that would increasingly characterize Aznar's foreign policy: international cooperation without the automatic transfer of Spanish sovereignty. |

December 1996

| Spain continued cooperating with NATO under its existing special arrangements. Spanish forces remained available for agreed Alliance operations and collective-defense commitments, but Madrid did not complete the integration into NATO's permanent military command structure undertaken by Spain in another course of history. The Aznar government presented the arrangement as proof that Spain could simultaneously remain a dependable Atlantic ally and preserve sovereign command over its Armed Forces. |

January 1997

| President Aznar presented the government's developing European doctrine before the Cortes. Spain would remain a committed member of the European Union, participate fully in the single market, support freedom of movement, European infrastructure, scientific cooperation, counterterrorism and close diplomatic cooperation. The government nevertheless rejected the proposition that European integration must inevitably culminate in the creation of a federal European State. |

| Aznar argued that Spain had been European for centuries before the creation of the European Communities and did not need to surrender its constitutional identity in order to demonstrate its commitment to Europe. Ultimate sovereignty remained with the Spanish Nation and was exercised through the institutions established by the Constitution. PP increasingly described its preferred model as a Europe of cooperating sovereign nations. |

June 1997

| Negotiations surrounding the Treaty of Amsterdam intensified the political disagreement between PP and PSOE. PSOE favored stronger common European institutions and accused the government of weakening Spain's position within European decision-making. PP supported reforms necessary for cooperation among the member states but sought to protect Spanish authority in areas directly involving national constitutional powers, policing, immigration, justice and foreign policy. |

July 8 - 9, 1997

| Madrid hosted a major summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization attended by leaders from throughout the Alliance. The summit addressed NATO enlargement, the post-Cold War security order and the future organization of the Alliance. The Aznar government used the gathering to demonstrate that Spain's refusal to surrender permanent national military command did not represent disengagement from Western collective security. |

July 10, 1997

| ETA kidnapped Miguel Ángel Blanco, a young People's Party municipal councillor in the Basque town of Ermua. The terrorist organization threatened to murder him unless the government transferred ETA prisoners to prisons in the Basque Country within forty-eight hours. President Aznar refused the ultimatum, maintaining that an elected representative could not be transformed into a bargaining instrument through terrorist violence. |

July 12 - 13, 1997

| After the government refused to comply with ETA's ultimatum, Miguel Ángel Blanco was shot and subsequently died from his wounds. His murder produced enormous outrage throughout Spain. Millions participated in demonstrations against ETA and political violence, bringing together Spaniards across ideological, regional and party divisions. |

| King Juan Carlos I condemned the murder and expressed the Crown's solidarity with Blanco's family and with all victims of terrorism. Catholic churches throughout the Kingdom held memorial services, while members of other religious communities and nonreligious Spaniards participated in vigils and demonstrations. The killing strengthened public rejection of ETA and reinforced cooperation among democratic political parties against terrorism. |

Late 1997

| The government expanded police and intelligence cooperation against ETA while emphasizing that Basque citizens and Basque political identity were not synonymous with terrorism. Aznar argued that the constitutional autonomy and historic identity of the Basque Country could be defended simultaneously with the unity of Spain and the prosecution of organizations employing violence for political purposes. |

Early 1998

| The approaching final stage of European Economic and Monetary Union forced Spain to confront a question postponed since Maastricht: whether the Kingdom would replace the peseta with the proposed common European currency. PSOE strongly favored participation, arguing that remaining outside monetary union could reduce Spanish economic and political influence within the European Union. |

| The People's Party itself was divided. Economic liberals emphasized reduced transaction costs, monetary stability and easier commerce with Spain's European partners. Christian democrats, constitutional conservatives and supporters of national sovereignty warned that surrendering the peseta would also transfer control over monetary policy and interest rates away from institutions accountable to the Spanish Nation. |

April 1998

| The Government presented a White Paper on Monetary Sovereignty to the Cortes Generales. It concluded that Spain could continue participating fully in the European single market without necessarily replacing its national currency. The report recommended close fiscal and monetary cooperation with European partners, exchange-rate stability and continued responsibility of the Banco de España for Spanish monetary policy. |

May 1998

| As European governments determined which countries would enter the final stage of monetary union, Madrid formally announced that Spain would not participate in the first group adopting the single European currency. The decision represented one of the largest departures from the European integration policy pursued by Felipe González. |

| Aznar insisted that the decision was not a rejection of the European Union. Spain would remain within the EU, the single market and common European political institutions. The peseta would instead remain the currency of the Kingdom while Spain maintained close monetary and commercial cooperation with the future eurozone. |

June 1998

| PSOE denounced the government's decision and demanded reconsideration before monetary union became irreversible. Socialist leaders argued that Spain risked separating itself from the principal economic core of European integration. PP defended preservation of the peseta as an exercise of constitutional and economic sovereignty. The currency controversy increasingly replaced Church-State relations as one of the largest ideological divisions between Spain's principal parties. |

Autumn 1998

| The government and Banco de España developed mechanisms intended to limit excessive fluctuations between the peseta and currencies entering European monetary union. Spanish businesses were permitted to conduct transactions and maintain accounts in the future euro, while taxation, government salaries, pensions, public accounts and ordinary domestic legal tender remained denominated in pesetas. |

January 1, 1999

| The euro formally came into existence as an accounting and financial currency among participating members of the European Union. Spain did not adopt it. The Spanish peseta remained the official currency of the Kingdom of Spain, and the Banco de España retained responsibility for national monetary policy rather than transferring that responsibility to the European Central Bank. |

| PSOE accused Aznar of encouraging a "two-speed Europe" in which Spain risked being excluded from important economic decisions. Aznar replied that Spain's European identity and membership could not be measured by which currency Spaniards carried in their wallets. Spain would remain European while retaining the right to determine its own monetary future. |

March 1999

| Economic relations with the emerging eurozone continued largely without interruption. Spanish banks began offering euro-denominated accounts for international commerce, exporters increasingly invoiced European customers in euros, and financial institutions developed systems capable of operating simultaneously in pesetas and euros. Domestic wages, taxation and ordinary purchases nevertheless continued overwhelmingly in pesetas. |

March 24, 1999

| NATO began military operations against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis. Spain supported allied efforts during the conflict, but the Kingdom's special NATO status again became politically significant. Spanish participation required an express decision by the Government rather than the automatic incorporation of Spanish forces into a permanent NATO command arrangement. |

| Aznar authorized Spanish participation following consultation with the Cortes and military leadership, arguing that preservation of national command did not require Spain to remain passive during a major European security crisis. PSOE supported international action but criticized PP for making multinational military coordination more complicated by refusing full NATO military integration. |

June 1999

| The Kosovo conflict ended and international forces entered the territory. Spanish personnel participated in stabilization, peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. PP presented the experience as evidence that preservation of sovereign military command remained compatible with extensive multinational military cooperation and Spain's obligations as a NATO member. |

March 2000

| General elections were held after four years of People's Party government. Aznar campaigned on economic growth, falling unemployment, institutional stability, defense of the constitutional position of the Catholic Church and preservation of the peseta. PSOE campaigned for stronger social protections, renewed secular reform and a return to the center of European monetary integration. |

| The People's Party won another term in government. The result was interpreted by PP as public approval of its economic and European policies, while PSOE entered another period of internal debate over how to recover the political support lost since the end of the González era. |

Spring 2000

| Aznar formed his second government and announced that Spain would continue cooperating closely with both the European Union and NATO without abandoning the sovereignty principles developed during his first term. The government also confirmed that it would defend Article 16 while respecting its guarantees of religious liberty and would not attempt to expand the constitutional establishment of Catholicism beyond the provisions already contained in the Constitution. |

Autumn 2000

| Despite warmer relations between Church and State, disagreements emerged between Catholic bishops and the PP government concerning economic and social policy. Catholic organizations criticized poverty, housing difficulties, treatment of immigrants and some consequences of market liberalization. Church representatives argued that defending Catholicism's constitutional position also required concern for workers, families, immigrants and the poor in accordance with Catholic social teaching. |

| Some PP politicians objected to the episcopal criticism. The bishops responded that the institutional and canonical independence guaranteed to the Catholic Church by Article 16 applied regardless of which political party controlled the government. The controversy demonstrated that the constitutional establishment of Catholicism did not transform the Church into an institution of the People's Party. |

Early 2001

| European Union institutional reform again became a major foreign-policy question as member states prepared for enlargement into Central and Eastern Europe. Spain strongly supported admission of the new European democracies but resisted reforms that Madrid believed would excessively reduce the influence of national governments or concentrate too much authority in supranational institutions. |

2001

| Spain ratified the Treaty of Nice following extensive parliamentary debate. PP presented the treaty as a practical reform necessary for an enlarged European Union rather than another stage toward a federal European State. PSOE supported the treaty but argued that Aznar's repeated emphasis on sovereignty prevented Spain from exercising the leadership within Europe justified by its population, economy and international position. |

| The disagreement increasingly crystallized into two competing visions of Europe. PSOE envisioned a progressively integrated European political community in which member states exercised increasing powers jointly. PP envisioned a permanent union of sovereign European nations cooperating through common institutions while retaining ultimate authority over their constitutions, defense, currency and fundamental national competences. |

September 11, 2001

| Terrorist attacks against the United States destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and struck the Pentagon outside Washington. Nearly three thousand people were killed. King Juan Carlos I, President Aznar and the leaders of the Cortes condemned the attacks and expressed Spain's solidarity with the American people. |

| The attacks possessed particular significance for Spain after decades of terrorism by ETA. The government argued that democratic countries confronting terrorist organizations required stronger international intelligence, financial and police cooperation. PSOE supported cooperation against international terrorism while insisting that Spanish actions remain subject to the Constitution, law and parliamentary scrutiny. |

October 2001

| Spain supported international operations against al-Qaeda and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Spanish participation initially concentrated upon logistics, humanitarian assistance and allied operations expressly authorized by the Government. PP again emphasized that Spain's independent military command arrangements had not prevented the Kingdom from fulfilling its commitments to its allies or contributing to international security. |

January 1, 2002

| Euro banknotes and coins entered circulation throughout participating eurozone countries. France retired the franc, Germany the mark, Italy the lira and Portugal the escudo as millions of Europeans began using the same physical currency. Spain did not follow them. The Spanish peseta remained the official legal tender of the Kingdom. |

| Spanish banks opened after the New Year with ATMs continuing to dispense pesetas. Shops continued displaying prices primarily in pesetas, while salaries, pensions, taxes and government budgets remained denominated in the national currency. Euros could be freely exchanged and were increasingly accepted by businesses serving European tourists, but they did not replace the peseta as Spain's legal tender. |

January 2002

| PSOE launched a major parliamentary attack on the government's monetary policy. Opposition leaders argued that the physical introduction of the euro demonstrated how far Spain had separated itself from the principal integration project of its European partners. Aznar rejected accusations that Spain had become anti-European, noting that the Kingdom remained deeply involved in European trade, institutions, diplomacy, infrastructure, scientific programs and freedom of movement. |

| The government's European doctrine became increasingly summarized by a simple expression: "Spain in Europe; Spain sovereign." |

First Half of 2002

| Spain assumed the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Aznar used the presidency to demonstrate that remaining outside the euro did not mean withdrawing from European leadership. Madrid emphasized enlargement, counterterrorism, economic cooperation, Mediterranean relations and stronger European coordination against organized crime. |

| PSOE argued that Spain's presidency exposed the contradiction of leading European Union meetings while remaining outside monetary union. PP responded that it demonstrated precisely the opposite: participation in the European political community did not require identical participation by every sovereign member in every European project. |

Spring 2002

| The continued existence of the peseta created an unusual but increasingly familiar economic arrangement. Spanish businesses trading heavily with eurozone countries commonly maintained accounts in both currencies. Banks provided automatic conversion services and tourist areas frequently displayed prices in both pesetas and euros. The Banco de España coordinated closely with the European Central Bank while retaining independent responsibility for Spanish monetary policy. |

July 2002

| A foreign-policy crisis erupted when Moroccan forces occupied the small island of Perejil near the North African coast. The Spanish government demanded their withdrawal and restoration of the previous status quo. Diplomatic efforts initially failed to resolve the confrontation. |

| President Aznar authorized a limited Spanish military operation to remove the Moroccan personnel and restore Spanish control. Spanish forces retook the island without loss of life. International mediation subsequently helped restore the previous arrangement, and the government characterized the operation as a limited defense of Spanish territorial rights rather than an attempt to escalate conflict with Morocco. |

| PSOE supported the defense of Spanish territorial interests while questioning aspects of the government's diplomatic handling of the confrontation. King Juan Carlos I encouraged restoration of normal relations between Spain and Morocco once the immediate crisis had ended. |

Autumn 2002

| PSOE reopened debate over the constitutional status of the Catholic Church. A growing secularist faction argued that the failure of Felipe González's Article 168 initiative in 1987 should not permanently prevent a later generation from reconsidering Catholic establishment. Socialist leaders increasingly supported eventual separation of Church and State while acknowledging that such a transformation would have to follow Article 168 rather than being accomplished indirectly through ordinary legislation. |

| PP responded that Article 16 had survived repeated democratic elections, Socialist governments and constitutional litigation and remained part of the legitimate constitutional settlement. Aznar nevertheless acknowledged that Article 168 itself expressly made the provision amendable if a future proposal genuinely secured the extraordinary parliamentary and popular support demanded by the Constitution. |

| The constitutional argument therefore changed. The question was no longer whether PSOE could legally propose secularization. It could. The question was whether such a proposal could obtain two-thirds of both Houses of the Cortes, survive the constitutionally required dissolution and general election, obtain two-thirds support from both newly elected Houses, and finally receive the approval of the Spanish Nation in referendum. |

November 22, 2002

| King Juan Carlos I marked the twenty-seventh anniversary of his accession to the throne. During his reign Spain had experienced the adoption of the Constitution of 1978, the defeat of the February 23 coup attempt, repeated peaceful changes of government, participation in NATO and the European institutions, modernization of the Armed Forces and economy, and the emergence of the Kingdom as an increasingly influential European and Hispanic power. |

| The anniversary also demonstrated the political neutrality the King had sought to maintain. Juan Carlos had worked with the UCD governments of Adolfo Suárez and Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, thirteen years of Socialist government under Felipe González, and now the centre-right governments of José María Aznar. The Crown remained constitutionally Catholic and the King remained Defender of the Faith, while simultaneously being bound to protect the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed to every Spaniard by the Constitution. |

January 1, 2003

| Spain entered 2003 as one of Europe's largest democratic constitutional monarchies. Nearly a quarter century had passed since adoption of the Constitution of 1978, and the political system had survived terrorism, attempted military rebellion, ideological conflict between Church and State, peaceful transfers of government between left and right, international wars and the accelerating political and economic integration of Europe. |

| The Kingdom remained a committed member of the European Union, participating in the single market and European political institutions while rejecting the proposition that membership required eventual transformation into a federal European State. The dispute over Europe had become one of the clearest divisions between Spain's principal parties: PSOE remained broadly integrationist, while PP defended extensive cooperation among sovereign European nations. |

| Spain also remained a committed member of NATO, but the special military position approved by the Spanish Nation in the 1986 referendum had survived the Aznar government's review. Spanish forces cooperated extensively with allied militaries and participated in multinational operations, while ultimate command remained Spanish unless the Government expressly authorized participation in a particular multinational command. |

| Most visibly, Spain remained one of the few major Western European members of the European Union to retain its historic national currency. The Spanish peseta remained legal tender throughout the Kingdom even as neighboring states adopted euro banknotes and coins. The euro had become increasingly important for international commerce and tourism, but it had not replaced the peseta within Spain. |

| The Roman Catholic and Apostolic faith remained the official religion of the Spanish State. The Catholic Church retained the institutional independence, property, financial support, fiscal privileges, educational rights, chaplaincies, civil recognition of canonical marriage and ceremonial position guaranteed by Article 16. At the same time, no Spaniard could be compelled to profess Catholicism or participate in Catholic worship or instruction, while other religious communities remained constitutionally free to worship, organize institutions and possess property. |

| The religious settlement had survived not because it was legally impossible to amend, but because Felipe González's attempt to invoke Article 168 had failed to obtain the extraordinary parliamentary support required to place secularization before the electorate. Nearly sixteen years later, PSOE continued to favor a more secular State while PP defended the existing constitutional settlement, leaving the religious character of the Kingdom one of the great unresolved constitutional questions of twenty-first-century Spain. |

| King Juan Carlos I remained Head of State and Defender of the Faith. José María Aznar remained President of the Government. Felipe, Prince of Asturias, remained heir to the Crown. The Cortes Generales continued to legislate, governments continued to depend upon democratic elections and parliamentary confidence, and the constitutional monarchy that had survived 23-F entered another year with its institutions intact. |

| Yet the new year would soon confront the Kingdom with another major international crisis. The United States and United Kingdom were increasingly preparing for possible military action against Iraq, while European governments remained deeply divided over whether another war was justified. For Spain, a NATO ally that had fought terrorism while preserving independent military command and had spent the previous seven years insisting that international cooperation did not extinguish national sovereignty, the approaching Iraq crisis would place the foreign-policy principles of the Aznar government under their greatest test yet. |

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_{¹ A Series: CUBRIENDO LA HISTORIA, covering events from March 1986 to November 2003.}