Spain is a country.
The Council of Europe ( CoE ; Conseil de l'Europe ) is an international organisation whose stated aim is to uphold human rights , democracy , rule of law in Europe and promote European culture . No country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe . Spain ( España [ esˈpaɲa ] ) , officially the Kingdom of Spain ( [ Reino de España , links = no ] ) , is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe , with two large archipelagoes , the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands off the North African Atlantic coast , two cities Ceuta and Melilla in the North African mainland and several small islands in the Alboran Sea near the Moroccan coast . With an area of 505990 km2 , Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe , the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union , and the fourth largest country in the European continent . It is a member of the United Nations ( UN ) , the European Union ( EU ) , the Eurozone , the Council of Europe ( CoE ) , the Organization of Ibero-American States ( OEI ) , the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) , the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) and many other international organisations .