No, it is not. There is a convergence policy in the European Union where the European areas have been mapped according to development and the poorer areas are the regions that must converge (catch up) with the rest shown in red.

If we just focus on Western Europe, Spain looks pretty bad but you know what looks worse? That little country on their left called Portugal but hey, at least one region is developed but you know also what looks even worse? All the Eastern European countries who do not form part of the Eurozone

Sure, if we compared Spain in a Western European or worldwide level one can easily tell they are a shadow of their former self even if they are still developed but do you want to know a little secret?

“Every country outside the United States is a shadow of their former self. Yes, even Germany!”

I have seen people debating about a possible WWIII with a German fourth Reich rising and conquering the world but if Germany ever tries to recreate WWII, not only would they fail miserably in Western Europe but they would not be able to conquer France. Germany, France and the U.K. are about the same in the 21st century but Europe is no longer what it once was.

Before World war 2 the technology of the United States and Russia was not as good as the one in the 3 greatest European powers yet.

After World War II Western Europe was severly weakened that they couldn’t even stand against Russia, thus turning Russia, the United States and for a bit the British Empire as the three world superpowers.

Needless to say, the British Empire fell shortly thereafter and its military capacity of intervening in other countries was put into question after the Suez Crisis this last one proved that the British Empire had fallen and that France and the U.K. are subordinate former powers to the U.S. who threatened economic sanctions and the USSR who threatened a military invasion if they continue, it was an emotional moment in world history, Anthony Eden resignated as Prime Minister of Britain..

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States became the World’s Sole Superpower so in a relative perspective, it makes you think if the US, the UK or the USSR (the three main WW2 allies) really became Superpowers because they surpassed the other great powers quickly or if the other former powers like France and Germany became so weak that it was no longer possible to compare them with the victors and put them on the same league so the new term Superpower had to be invented.

Since the United States is still the worl’s sole superpower and European intellectuals like Adrian goldsworthy find the rise of the European Union as a second Superpower nothing short of a fantasy, this clearly means that Europe never actually recovered from the war and we should be debating wether all the Great European powers of 1939 alone where relatively stronger than the modern European Union and if WWII never existed, the U.K France and Germany, alone, would be stronger than the European Union of our timeline.

That is why weakened France was conquered by Germany in the second world war and weakened Spain was conquered by France in the Napoleonic wars and so on and so forth.