Spain’s Participation in the EU: the Impact on Economic Development

Abstract In this paper we study the impact of European Union membership on the development of the national economy on the example of Spain, which overcame the path from a country with an average level of capitalism development to the highly developed country in just 30 years. In the study, the author analyses modern tendencies of the European integration, examines the key preconditions for the entry of Spain into the European Union, conducts a comprehensive study of the influence of regional, common agricultural and common scientific-technical policy of the EU on the economy of Spain, and also considers the country's position on the most topical issues on the European agenda. Methodology of research is the aggregation of such methods as comparative analysis, induction, deduction, method of measurement and an interdisciplinary approach. The author hypothesizes that the entry of Spain into the European Union and the affiliation to the programs of the EU General policies was the main driving force of economic growth and allowed Spain for a short period of time transform from a traditionally agrarian economy to one of the most developed countries of the European Union. In the study the author comes to the conclusion that the entry of Spain into the EU, on the one hand, contributed to accelerating economic growth and reducing the gap with the leading countries of the integration group, and on the other, put Spain before the modern challenges of the European Union, such as Brexit and migration crisis. The work consists of introduction, three chapters of the main part, conclusion and list of references. Key words: The EU, the economic development of Spain, the common agricultural policy, the common scientific and technical policy of the EU, immigration crisis, Brexit