Los esfuerzos de la democracia cristiana alemana para favorecer la transición española, 1975-1977 = The Efforts of the German Christian Democracy to Favor the Spanish Transition to Democracy, 1975-1977

Abstract

El presente articulo analiza la ayuda que el partido democrata cristiano aleman, la Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) y la fundacion politica alemana de ideologia afin, la Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, otorgaron a sus homologos espanoles desde los ultimos meses del franquismo hasta las primeras elecciones democraticas en junio de 1977. Para ello se utilizan principalmente los fondos del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, los fondos del Archivo Federal, los del Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya y los archivos personales de Jose Maria Gil Robles, Inaki Anasagasti y Josef Thesing, todo ello complementado con prensa alemana y espanola de la epoca. Las conclusiones resaltan varios aspectos: que el apoyo aleman a sus homologos comenzo temprano porque en principio la CDU tenia identificados a los democrata cristianos espanoles que eran socios de la UEDC desde 1965; tanto la Cancilleria como la democracia cristiana alemana desplegaron una bateria de recursos para apoyar la democratizacion de Espana; a pesar del esfuerzo politico y economico realizado, los alemanes no cosecharon el exito deseado en su voluntad por conseguir en Espana la consolidacion de un partido de centro –a falta de un partido netamente democristiano– que integrara a la democracia cristiana; y sin embargo, que el triunfo electoral de la UCD –que contaba con un importante sector democristiano– en las elecciones del 15 de junio de 1977, abria una nueva esperanza para los objetivos de la CDU en Espana. Abstract This article analizes the support that the German Christian democratic party, Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) and the German Christian democratic foundation, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, provided to their Spanish counterparts from the end of Francoism until the first democratic elections held on June 1977. The primary sources for this work have been records from the German Foreign Office, the Federal Archive, the National Archive of Catalonia, as well as the private archives of Jose Maria Gil Robles, Inaki Anasagasti and Josef Thesing. All of this complemented with Spanish and German press of that time. The conclusions highlight several aspects: the first one, that the German Christian democratic support to its Spanish counterpart began early due to the participation of the Spanish Christian democrats in the European Christian Democratic Union (ECDU) since 1965; both the Chancellery as well as the German Christian democracy deployed a battery of resources to support the Spanish democratization; despite the political and economic effort, the Germans did not achieve their objective of a consolidated centre party –in the absence of a great purely Christian Democratic party– that integrated all the Christian democrats; and nevertheless, the electoral triumph of UCD –which had an important Christian Democratic sector– in the elections held on 15 June 1977, opened a new hope for the objectives of the CDU in Spain.