‘Blair must have put off presenting the budget of the European Union several times. We can't even rely on British punctuality any more …' In 2005, Portuguese cartoonists Aníbal and Reimão take an ironic look at the British Prime Minister's stubborn insistence on rejecting any budget agreements.

In 2005, the Portuguese cartoonist Jorge Mateus takes an ironic look at the ratification process of the Constitutional Treaty, which closely links the fate of the Member States of the European Union.

"Euro-paix!" Lors de la crise du Kosovo provoquée par le président yougoslave Slobodan Milosevic, le caricaturiste espagnol Amenofis réclame la paix en Europe, symboliquement représentée par un billet en euros.

On 29 February 1972, Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg Minster for Foreign Affairs and President-in-Office of the Council of the European Communities, replies on behalf of his colleagues to the letter sent on 29 October 1971 by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gregorio López-Bravo, to his counterparts in the European Economic Community. In his reply, he assures the Spanish Minister that the Council will give careful consideration to the problems that the enlargement of the Community could cause for the Trade Agreement concluded with Spain in 1970.

Meeting on 26 October 2007 in Lanzarote, Spain, the Ministers for Justice of the 47 participating Member States invite the Council of Europe to identify the means and measures to be implemented to promote access to justice for vulnerable groups, in particular migrants and asylum seekers and also children, including child perpetrators of crime. The photo shows (from left to right) Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Mariano Fernández Bermejo, Spanish Minister for Justice.

Conference held in November 1978 by Daniel de Busturia, head of the Spanish delegation to the European Communities representing the Higher Council of the Spanish Official Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Navigation, on the difficulties encountered in the accession negotiations and the future integration strategy.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Adolfo Suárez, concludes his visit to the nine capital cities of the Member States of the European Communities with a meeting with the European Commission on 4 November 1977 on the most pressing issues and the preparation of the process for Spain’s accession.

The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, appears in the Madrid Parliament on 15 June 2004 in order to report on Spain’s stance regarding the Intergovernmental Conference and the objectives established by the Meeting of Heads of State or Government of the European Union, amongst which definitive approval of the European Constitution project figures prominently.

Conclusions of the European Council held in Madrid on 15 and 16 December 1995 to close the second Spanish Presidency of the European Union, in which the major themes covered include employment, the single currency, the holding of an Intergovernmental Conference in 1996 for the revision of the Treaties, and the enlargement of the EU towards Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

In this interview, published on 12 June 2005 in the Spanish daily newspaper El País to mark the 20th anniversary of Spain’s accession to the European Communities, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González recalls the feelings of confidence and fear that were created by Spanish accession, analyses the reactions to the European Union’s fifth enlargement and offers some ideas for overcoming the stagnation of the European economic and social model.