ABSTRACT

In contrast with the declining importance, for the EU, of cooperation with its ACP ‘partners’ (the subject of the preceding chapter), the significance of the EU’s relations with its two peripheries-to the East and the South-has increased enormously since the end of the Cold War. This is particularly evident in the case of the EU’s Eastern neighbours, both because of the constrained nature of relations with Eastern Europe during the Cold War, and of the perceived need to respond urgently to the dramatic events which characterized its end. Thus, the Commission observed in 1990-

The peaceful revolution which swept Eastern Europe in 1989 is probably the most significant event in global terms of the past 45 years. It is happening on the very doorstep of the European Community. It represents a challenge and an opportunity to which the EC has given an immediate response.