journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...

The Reliable Ally:
Germany Supports Spain's European Integration Efforts, 1957-67
Birgit Aschmann
In the summer of 1965, the German ambassador to Madrid, Helmut Allardt, in his
annual report of the bilateral relations, wrote that “the Federal Government in spite
of the danger of being suspected of reviving fascist alliances (…) has contributed to
leading Spain out of its isolation. And when today Spain’s relations with the Common
Market are brought up for discussion in Brussels, so besides France the Federal
Republic as well may consider itself as a sponsor of this development”. 1 In the
meantime it has generally been acknowledged in literature, that the Federal Republic
of Germany stood by Spain’s side in its striving for European integration as a
“reliable and lasting ally”. 2 So it is all the more striking that up to now, it has
scarcely been analysed how this German support actually came to fruition.
Existent publications on the European integration history of Spain if at all, barely
touch upon the important role of the Federal Republic, whereas analyses of the
German-Spanish bilateral relations mostly neglect the European issue. 3 Thus, there is
no survey so far, which on the basis of German records would deal with the question of
1. Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes (PAAA) I A 4/319, "Spanisch-deutsche Beziehungen",
enclosure No.7 of the report sent by the German embassy in Madrid on 7 July 1965.
2. M.T. LA PORTE, La política europea del régimen de Franco 1957-1962, Pamplona, 1992, p.155,
which is one of the few existing scientific studies on General Francisco Franco’s EEC policy.
3. On the early policy of Franco post-1945 Spain towards Europe with emphasis on the economic aspects,
Fernando Guirao is authoritative, Spain and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945-1957. Challenge
and Response, London, 1998. Also in the publications on the early stages of the Spanish EEC-policy, the
economic policy is central for Guirao, “Solvitur ambulando”: The Place of the EEC in Spain’s Foreign
Economic Policy, 1957-1962, in: A.S. MILWARD and A. DEIGHTON (eds), Widening, Deepening and
Acceleration: The European Economic Community 1957–1963, Baden-Baden/Brussels, 1999, pp.347-58.
On this phase of the Spanish EEC-policy see besides La Porte also A. MORENO JUSTE, España y el
proceso de construcción europea, Barcelona, 1998 and Franquismo y construcción europea (1951-1962).
Anhelo, necesidad y realidad de la aproximación a Europa, Madrid, 1998. Besides there is a series of writings
by politicians or officials, who have directly participated in the Spanish integration process and are
now presenting their memories – completed by literature and records –, for instance R. BASSOLS, España
en Europa. Historia de la adhesión a la CE 1957-1985, Madrid, 1995, or F. ÁLVAREZ DE MIRANDA,
Del «contubernio» al consenso, Madrid 1985. On the German-Spanish relations see B. ASCHMANN,
Treue Freunde? Westdeutschland und Spanien 1945-1963, Stuttgart, 1999 (with the hitherto sole considerations
on German support of the Spanish EEC-policy, cf. pp.286-311) and the research (Magisterarbeit)
by P.M. WEBER, Spanische Deutschlandpolitik 1945-1958. Entsorgung der Vergangenheit?, Frankfurt
am Main, 1992. An abridged version of the latter account is available in Spanish, Política española hacia
Alemania, 1945-1958: El impacto político y económico de las relaciones hispano-alemanas, in: W.L.
BERNECKER (ed.), España y Alemania en la Edad Contemporánea, Frankfurt am Main, 1992,
pp.209-31. Finally the essay by C. COLLADO SEIDEL, En defensa de Occidente. Perspectivas en las
relaciones del régimen de Franco con los gobiernos democristianos de Alemania (1949-1966), in: J.
TUSELL, S. SUEIRO, J.M. MARÍN and M. CASANOVA (ed.), El régimen de Franco (1936-1975).
Política y Relaciones Exteriores, Madrid, 1993, pp.475–492. For their publications on the German-Spanish
history Weber as well as Collado Seidel consulted only Spanish records.
37