Monitoring Association and Beyond: The European Union and the Visegrád States [antikvár]

FOREWORDWhen the European Council in Essen (December 1994) for the first time welcomed their counterparts from the six associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe half a decade of gradually intensified relations entered into the period of pre-accession. The new democracies are linked by the so-called Europe Agreements and enjoy structured relations with the European Union. This does not make them members of the European Union but certainly insiders of the European integration process.This book describes and analyses the formative years of the new relationship between the European Union and Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, i. e. those countries which were the first to proceed from cooperation to association with the EC in the perspective of their eventual membership. The process of association is monitored more closely in this study which analyses and discusses the prerequisites, the capacities and the obstacles on both sides to contribute to transformation and integration in Europe within the framework of the Europe Agreements. Most manuscripts were finished by April 1994, others also reflect developments thereafter up to the European Council in Essen.The contributions presented in this book are the result of a more than two years' interdisciplinary project with colleagues from the so-called Visegrád countries, coordinated by the Institut für Europäische Politik, Bonn. Our mutual learning process in times of moving targets benefitted immensely from cooperating within this extended and intellectually enriched academic network. With this study and evaluation we hope to contribute to the ongoing debate on the perspectives of European integration and unity in a Europe that is also challenged by discord and disintegration.This book could not have been published without the commitment and encouragement of many people and institutions to which we extend our gratitude. In particular we should thank the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Cologne, for generously funding the project and the meetings of the study group in Bonn, Budapest and Berlin and the Auswärtiges Amt, Bonn, which gratefully supported the editing and printing of the book. We owe a specialIf'II I.Ml', '