Europe

In 1982 applying for a work permit, by a British citizen, was administrative hell. Solicited in September, it finally arrived in May, one month before the contract was due to expire anyway. The following year the whole ridiculous procedure was repeated, with the same result.
Now Spain is Europe, and fellow Europeans can come and go, and stay, pretty much as they please. THAT is progress. Not independence, ruptures, or nostalgia for a romantic past which never really existed as such.