ABSTRACT
The first meeting of the Visegrad Three with the Troika of EPC political directors was held in London on 15 July 1992, two weeks after the launching of the British Presidency of the Council. The Visegrad Three's response led the British Presidency to attempt to reopen the issue of the membership perspective. This was done by including in the draft joint statement the promise that the European Council meeting in Edinburgh would consider the question of membership. The wording chosen by the European Council was deliberately ambiguous but for the first time the European Council implicitly agreed to the idea of sharing the associates' wish to become members. The European Council in Edinburgh launched a process of policy revision. The European Council meeting in Edinburgh in December 1992 examined the report and promised that in Copenhagen it would 'reach decisions on the various components of the Commission's report in order to prepare the associate countries for accession to the Union'.
