Democracy and Europe

La Transición y la democracia

20 November 1975–. After Franco's death the king, the reformist prime minister Adolfo Suárez and the opposition negotiated a way from dictatorship to democracy without a break in…

What happened

After Franco's death the king, the reformist prime minister Adolfo Suárez and the opposition negotiated a way from dictatorship to democracy without a break in the law: a reform law approved by referendum in December 1976, free elections in June 1977 and a constitution approved by the people in December 1978. A coup attempt failed in 1981. Spain built seventeen self-governing regions with co-official languages, joined NATO in 1982 and the European Community in 1986, and adopted the euro. Democratic Spain has had long governments of the centre-right and the socialists, the Olympic Games of 1992, a serious economic crisis after 2008, a Catalan independence crisis in 2017 and growing debate about the memory of the Civil War and the dictatorship.

Its events

1. 20 November 1975–15 June 1977: Franco dies and the Transition begins
2. 6 December 1978: The Constitution of 1978
3. 6 December 1978: Spain's other languages become co-official
4. 23–24 February 1981: The coup attempt of 23-F
5. 1 January 1986: Spain joins the European Community
6. March 1991: The Instituto Cervantes is created
7. 2009–2011: One grammar and one spelling for 22 countries
8. 24 October 2019: Franco is moved from the Valley of the Fallen

Sources

1. 15 de junio de 1977: línea de salida hacia la Constitución — Congreso de los Diputados (blog)
2. 6 de diciembre del 78, el pueblo ha hablado: Sí a la Constitución — Congreso de los Diputados (blog)
3. Spain and the European Union — Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores