franco died in 1975. he had decided that spain should have a king again, and he chose juan carlos, the grandson of the king who had been forced to leave the country, to be king. but the king did not rule as a dictator; instead, he chose to set up a democracy. also since franco's death, spain appointed adolfo suárez to became spain's first democratically elected prime minister. now spain is a modern democratic country, and does business with many countries around the world. it is a part of the european union.