西班牙在十六、十七世紀時，曾是權傾一時的海上霸權國家，當時的國勢如日中天；但由於時代的變遷，並沒有使得西班牙穩居世界霸權的位置，尤其是在二戰後，佛朗哥將軍的獨裁政體更是使西班牙遭到國際社會的孤立。一直到佛朗哥逝世後，西班牙才進入民主化的過程。在歷經了民主化後，西班牙得以在1986年加入當時的歐洲共同體。 西班牙在加入歐洲共同體後(現今的歐洲聯盟)，分別在1989年、1995年、2002年以及2010年擔任過歐盟輪值主席，而在這四次輪值主席當中，西班牙國內也度過了兩次政黨輪替，分別由社會勞工黨（簡稱社工黨）及人民黨執政；而這兩大政黨在西班牙的對外關係當中也抱持著不同的理念。一直以來，西班牙的外交政策是聚焦於歐盟、地中海及拉丁美洲這三大區域，在兩大政黨不同理念的帶領下，西班牙要如何利用其擔任歐盟輪值主席的權限，在這三大地區中扮演好「橋樑」的角色，是本篇文章探討的重點之一。 本文另一探討重點在於社工黨及人民黨都曾在西班牙擔任歐盟輪值主席時執政過，因此兩大黨在對外關係方面都有自己的政策及理念，筆者將在本文中對兩大政黨在擔任歐盟輪值主席時的外交政策做一個相同及差異性的比較，也會對這兩大政黨的總理岡薩雷茲、阿茲納及薩巴德羅做一個外交理念及政策上的探討；並且使用「自由派政府間主義」為理論基礎，來說明西班牙兩大政黨對於外交政策要如何在「國內層次」及「國際層次」間取得平衡。 Spain wielded the dominant sea power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were one of the most powerful countries in the world. But as the times changing, they didn’t really dominate the world. After World War II, General Franco''s dictatorship made Spain isolated by the international community. Spain didn’t get into the democratization process until the death of Franco. After the democratization, Spain was able to participate in European Community(EC) in 1986. After participating EC (today’s EU), Spain assumed Presidency of the European Union in 1989, 1995, 2002 and 2010. During the four times of presidency, there were two ruling parties in Spain, the two parties were Partido socialista obrero Español (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP) . The two parties have different aspects in Spain’s foreign policy. Spain’s foreign policy focuses its attention on three aspects: Europe, Mediterranean and Latin America. Between the two parties’ different leadership, Spain how to use its Presidency of the EU permission to play the role of "bridge" in these three areas, this is one of the keypoints of this article. Another keypoint of this article is discussing PSOE and PP have ever ruled Spain when assuming Presidency of the EU, and they have their own aspect and policy. I will compare two major political parties in the Presidency of the EU''s foreign policy to do the same and differences, and discuss the presidents of this two parties: González’s, Aznar’s and Zapatero’s foreign policy of Spain.
