THE GEOGRAPHY (Foreign Office UK)
Area: 504,782 sq km
Population: 40.8 million (according to
2002 census)
Capital City: Madrid
Languages: Castilian Spanish (official)
74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque
(2%)
Religions: Roman Catholic (97%);
Protestant/other 3%
Currency: euro (EUR)
GEOGRAPHY
Spain is the second largest country in
the EU (after France), with a total
surface area of 197,000 square miles
(510,000 square kilometres). In addition
to mainland Spain, territory includes
two island archipelagos – the Balearics
and the Canaries – and two enclaves
on the North African coast, bordering
Morocco,– Ceuta and Melilla.
THE HISTORY (Foreign Office UK)
Government: After the death of
General Franco in November 1975,
Spain made a rapid transformation
from dictatorship to democracy. The
monarchy, which had been removed in
1931, was restored, and the first
multi-party elections since 1936 were
held in 1977. The National Parliament
(Cortes Generales), formed by the
Congress of Deputies and the Senate,
is elected every 4 years. Spain is also
divided in to 17 regions, with varying
powers, but each with its own
parliament, government and
administrative apparatus.
Major political parties: Popular Party
(PP) leader: Jose Maria Aznar; Spanish
Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)
leader: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero;
United Left (IU) leader: Gaspar
Llamazares; Convergence and Union
(CiU) leader: Jordi Pujol.
Head of State: King Juan Carlos
THE ECONOMY (Foreign Office UK)
Basic economic facts
GDP: US $ 582.2 billion (654 billion
EUR)
GDP per head: US $14,942 (16,789)
Annual growth: 2.0% (at end 2002)
Inflation: 4% (at end 2002)
Major industries: agriculture, fishing,
wine, cement, chemicals, engineering,
petroleum refining, forestry and
timber, iron and steel
automobiles,textiles,
telecommunications
Major trading partners: EU, Japan,
Latin America.
Trade Partners UK country profile:
Spain
Trade and Investment with the UK
UK exports to Spain in 2002 were
£8.4bn making it the UK's 8th largest
export market. The UK is also the third
largest foreign investor in Spain.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Spain's relations with the UK
Relations with the UK are strong and
deep, drawing on the close relationship
between the two Prime Ministers who
last met in London on 23 April and again
in Thessaloniki on 20 June. The two
countries work closely together on
many key parts of the European
agenda. Both have driven the "Lisbon"
economic reform agenda since it
began.
There are regular bilateral employment
seminars involving ministers, senior
officials, union leaders, academics and
others from the non-governmental
sector. There is close co-operation on
Justice and Home Affairs: we work
closely together on improving
Europe's response to the challenge of
immigration; and have agreed on
fast-track extradition procedures
between our two countries . There is
also extensive and valuable
co-operation on health (including the
recruitment of hundreds of
highly-qualified Spanish medical staff
now working in the UK), defence and
education.
These areas of co-operation are
reflected in regular bilateral
conferences and seminars including the
annual Tertulias Conference which
brings together influential decision
makers and opinion formers from the
fields of politics, academia and
business.
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