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This work studies the origin of macroeconomic imbalances in the Spanish economy in the context of European integration, analyzing some of the major hypotheses found in economic literature as causes of imbalances in current accounts, disparities in competitiveness among member states and the fiscal position of the Spanish government. We emphasize the breaking point of adopting a single currency and how this has affected interest rates, economic growth forecasts and the strong and continuous inflow of capital from countries in the Eurozone core, contributing to the real-estate bubble and leveraging the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain's entry into the European Union (EU), in 1986, represented a great challenge in several areas, including the evaluation of public policy. In 1988 Structural Fund regulations were amended to include mandatory evaluation of European structural policies by both the Commission and the member states, and the 1999 reform strengthened evaluation requirements. This contribution discusses the major changes introduced in the Spanish evaluation landscape due to Spain's entry into the EU. It provides a description and analysis of a case that has elicited great interest among countries that have entered the EU in the 21st century and are trying to learn from the experience of Spain and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]