Portugal, Spain, and Europe: from the parallelism of the accession negotiations to the capitalisation of the third enlargement of the European Economic Community

This article focuses on the Portuguese application for membership to the European Economic Community, seeking to demonstrate that Portuguese accession was delayed as a result of the simultaneity of Portugal and Spain’s accession negotiations. It also analyses the fact that although Member States were theoretically in favour of further enlargement, they dealt with the process at their own pace, and in accordance with their own specific requirements; we therefore show how the interests of the Member States conditioned the accession process.