ABSTRACT

Chapter 2 discussed the evolution of relations between the EC and Eastern Europe, leading to the negotiation and conclusion of the first wave of Association agreements with Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia in late 1991. It was argued that the initiation of the Association regime was born out of the EC's determination to reduce the uncertainties caused by the 1989 revolutions and fill the political and economic vacuum which was created in Eastern Europe following the end of the Cold War. Nevertheless, Eastern Europe's stabilisation was not to be pursued at any cost. The long and difficult negotiations with the first wave of Association applicants, for example, revealed the EC's unwillingness to give in to the East European demands for the speedy accomplishment of a Free Trade Area and a commitment to future EC membership. As a result the agreed Association deal was to be a rather cautious one. Certain products (i.e. agriculture, textiles, coal and steel) were excluded from fast-track liberalisation, concessions in relation to free movement of people were moderate and membership would be the candidates' "ultimate goal", not the EAs' natural progression.