ABSTRACT
The period from 1970 to 1989 was characterized by an unequal progress in the developments of the relationship between the European Community (EC) and its Member States to the various members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). The great changes of the year 1989 drew the final line under the cautious step-by-step method of the Community in relation to Eastern Europe. The chapter summarizes the most important characteristics of the Europe Agreements. In relation to Central and Eastern Europe, the European Council underlined the fundamental importance of the Europe Agreements and of the Conclusions of Copenhagen. In December 1994, at the European Council of Essen, a strategy for the preparation for EU membership, the so-called "Essen pre-accession strategy", was worked out. At the European Council of Amsterdam in June 1997, the EU States successfully concluded their Intergovernmental Conference with full unanimity on a draft treaty with the perspective of having it signed in Amsterdam in October 1997.
