Why does de Gaulle, a living myth, accept the invitation of an aging Franco in 1970? A controversial anecdote or a revealing fact? At first glance, France, a declared country of human rights and a land of exile for thousands of anti-Franco activists, does not negotiate with a dictatorship. Yet, against all intuition, it is the disappearance of Franco and the path toward democracy that complicate Franco-Spanish relations.

From the perspective of the Quai d'Orsay, what unfolds between 1957 and 1979 is the return, spurred by the Cold War, of Spain to a democratic Europe with a market economy. This return is not linear but marked by setbacks and retreats. The fundamental question is to study the obstacles and advances of a neighborhood steeped in distrust. Spain is less marginal than it seems, as French diplomacy reshapes itself to carve out a place in an Iberian theater stimulated by the ambitions of Bonn, Brussels, London, Rome, and Washington.

Finally, Spain becomes for France the laboratory of a memory diplomacy, where each actor rewrites, for contemporary purposes, a more or less distant history, sometimes fraternal, often conflictual. Strategy, industry, commerce, and memory intertwine in this layering of scales and stakes where each party relies on influential emissaries. Against all odds, it is Madrid, not Paris, that sets the pace for this renewal of dialogue, perspective, and practices.