However, as soon as he became the king Juan Carlos I, he started to turn the dictatorship into a democracy with a constitutional monarchy.
After several meetings Adolfo Suarez was appointed as a Prime Minister in 1976 by the king.
He began a very difficult process of political reforms:
- The release of political prisioners
- The dissolution of the secert police.
- The legalisation of the right to strike and form trade unions.
- The legalisation of all political parties.
- The introduction of a new electoral law which permit the first free elections in 1977 after 40 years.
Adolfo Suarez was elected as a Prime Minister by the mayority of the votes and he and all the elected members of the Parliament approved a new Constitution in 1978.
Spanish people approved it in a referendum.
Different Prime Ministers have governed Spain since 1977.
We joined the Uropean Union (EU) in 1986 and adopted the euro in 2002.
