"Too much money at once for those Spanish "experts"." Economic contacts between Czechoslovakia and Spain during the Cold War
Abstrakt
Within Czechoslovak-Spanish relations, the issue of post-war economic contacts has long been marginalised. As suggests the title, quoting the reservations of the staff of the CPCz CC International Department (MOÚV KSČ) regarding the expenses of Spanish emigration in Czechoslovakia, fraternal help for communist parties encountered in Czechoslovakia its economic limitations.
The use of Serbo-Croatian term "stručnjak" (expert) to ironically describe Spanish communists proves that not only economic relations between Francoist Spain and Czechoslovakia were complex. These developed slowly, due to the ideological differences of regimes and despite the complementary nature of their foreign trade, as well as domestic political efforts to pursue them.
Crucial for the economic relations was the 1960s: Spanish economy was liberalized, Czechoslovak-Spanish trade expanded; however, this development stopped after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, which had far-reaching consequences for mutual relations. Hence, in its foreign policy towards Spain, Prague had to manoeuvre between the necessities of Czechoslovak foreign trade, power interests of Moscow, as well as the presence of Spanish communist exiles financed by Czechoslovakia.