* * * Periodical 8/1990 THE COMMUNITY A D ITS EASTERN NEIGHBOURS Blank page. not reproduced: 4 EUROPEAN DOCUMENTATION **=-=* * :..* * ,!" .:0 A wind .of change is blowing through Central and Eastern Europe. Allian- ces and infrastructures which have been in place for the past 45 years have collapsed and are in the course of being replaced. Most Centralilnd East European countries wish to have close links with the European Community and eventually to join it. This booklet explains what the European Community is doing to help its Eastern neighbou rs. Money has been made available to infuse new i nvest- ment into the veins of industry and agriculture. New infrastructures are being set up to give them better access to the markets of the West and to stabilize and improve their food supply. Particular attention is being paid to the protection and improvement of their environment. The booklet concludes with thumb-nail sketches of the European Commu- nity's ' future partners' and a description of its relations with the Soviet Union. ISBN 92-826-1835-8 OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS Of) * OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 11111111/111 II IIII! 111I1 * * * L-2985 Luxembourg 9 789282 618356 THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND ITS EASTERN NEIGHBOURS Manuscript cornpleted in October 1990 Cover: Prague, the Charles Bridge (Photo: Benelux Press) Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1990 ISBN 92"826-1835- Catalogue number: CB-59-90-160-EN- (S) ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels. Luxembourg, 1990 Reproduction is authorized, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in the FR of Germany CONTENTS A HISTORIC CHALLENGE . THE PEACEFUL REVOLUTION (iJ . A COMMON HERITAGE (iJ . EC RELATIONS WITH EASTERN EUROPE ITJ THE ROLE MODEl OF THE EC . LEGITIMATE ASPIRATIONS (1QJ . EFFECTIVE AND IMMEDIATE AID . SPECIAL ASSOCIATION AGREEMENTS Free trade Economic and technical cooperation Financial assistance Political dialogue . A STIMULUS TO SELF-HELP lBJ . THE MULTILATERAL FRAMEWORK (ill ThePhare programme The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development PROFILE OF FUTURE PARTNERS UNKNOWN NEIGHBOURS (12J Poland Hungary Czechoslovakia Bulgaria Romania Yugoslavia THE EC'S RElATIONS WITH THE SOVIET UNION FURTHER READING HISTORIC CHALLENGE THE PEACEFUL the European Commission, has been at the REVOLUTION centre of combined western efforts to sup- port the economic liberalization process in The peaceful revolution which swept Eastern Eastern Europe through the Phare pro- Europe in 1989 is probably the most signifi- gramme. cant event in global terms of the past 45 The Phare programme was set up by the years. It is happening on the very doorstep of seven-nation Western Economic Summit (the the European Community. It represents a so-called G-7) in July 1989. The initial aim challenge and an opportunity to which the was to coordinate Western aid to Hungary EC has given an immediate response. and Poland, the first East European countries The Community and its Member States to strike out on the reform road. In 1990 its thanks to shared traditions and background, scope was extended to cover the other coun- are uniquely placed to help their Eastern tries of Central and Eastern Europe. neighbours on their way back to democracy. But these developments are only a beginn- The Community, with more than 30 years of ing. The time when Europe was divided into experience in bringing small and medium- three distinct regional economic groups sized nations together in an economic unit the Community, EFTA and Comecon - also serves as a model for bringing market- now changing. The map is being. redrawn driven economic policies to the eastern part with the Community firmly atthe heart of the of the continent. new Europe. This Europe is set to emerge as Together, the revolution in Eastern Europe a new force .in the balance of world power and the EC's programme to complete its a fact already recognized by the United single market by 1993 are changing the States of America, Japan and the Soviet political and economic architecture of Union. Europe. Germany isheing united. A new set of relationships has been created between the Community and its European Free Trade Association (EFTA) partners as well as with its A COMMON HERITAGE neighbours in Central and Eastern Europe. Throughout the period of the cold war, and The emerging democracies in the East are despite the limited ability of Eastern Europe part of the new Europe just as they were part to import western products, EC firms did of mainstream Europe until their former more than their American or Japanese com- Communist rulers shut them off from their petitorsin maintaining commercial flows Western neighbours at the end of World War between East and West. Over the years, the II. Traditional contacts were lost, turning Community has kept a discreet but open- Eastern Europe into unknown territory for door attitude towards its Eastern neighbours two generations of EC citizens. who were part of Comecon, the Soviet-led Until then, culture and commerce inter- economic grouping. mingled freely. Mitteleuropa, which covered From modest roots, these contacts grew parts of what were to become both East and rapidly between 1988 and 1990 with the West, was not just a geographic notion. It vir- conclusion by the Community of trade and tually came to mean a way of life. cooperation agreements with East Germany, Czechoslovakia was among the most highly Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, industrialized countries of the whole the Soviet Union and Romania. At the same Europe in the 1930s with a standard of living time, the Community, and more especially that was comparable to that of Switzerland. The Eastern Europeans have played their part 1953, followed by dramatic (and sometimes in the great cultural, scientific, political and violent) events in Poland , Hungary and economic rnovements that have shaped the Czechoslovakia over the following 30 years history of Europe. and culminating in the almost bloodless The Renaissance and the Reformation tou- revolutions in one East European country ched the whole continent. Copernicus is one after another in 1989. of Europe s greatest scientists. East Euro- The movement, begun in Poland and peans played a crucial role in the defence of Hungary, accelerated during the year to Europe against outside invaders. They were reach Czechoslovakia East Germany, part of the power struggles and patterns of Bulgaria and finally Romania by year s end. alliances that marked much of Europe Each of the six countries has taken its own history. Eastern Europe houses part of the route towards pluralistic democracy and a continent' artistic and architectural market-driven economy. heritage. East Germany is now part of the Federal The desire of its peoples to return to the fun- Republ ic. The first free elections were held in damental principles of freedom and the other countries during the first half of democracy has always been present, rising 1990. Each of the East European countries is irrepressibly to the surface at regular inter- grappling with its own set of economic vals, starting with the East Berlin uprising in social , political and sometimes ethnic pro- A COMMON RESPONSIBILITY Each day in Central and Eastern Europe Europe, and with Yugoslavia in so far as change is asserting itself more strongly. they are committed to this path, closer Everywhere a powerful aspiration toward and more substantive relations based freedom, democracy, respect of human upon an intensification of political rights prosperity, social justice and dialogue and increased cooperation in peace is being expressed. The Corn- all areas: munity and its Member States are fully conscious of the common responsibility Extract from the Declaration on Central which devolves on them in this decisive and Eastern Europe by the European phase in the history of Europe. They are Council (of the Community s Heads of prepared to develop with the USSR and State or Government) the other countries of Central and Eastern Strasbourg, and December 1989. blerns. Yugoslavia, with its own brand of neglect. Environmental pollution was out of communism, was never a part of Comecon. control. But it is going through the sarne revolu- tionary process as the others. The model to which the peoples of Eastern All the countries of Central and Eastern Europe aspired in terms of freedom and liv- Europe share commOn characteristics. Their ing standards was that of the European Com- economies were in a state of near collapse; munity. They saw how 12 countries of there had been virtually no investment in Western Europe had decided to form a fully plant and equipment in recent years; in- integrated market complemented by (IJ frastructure was suffering from similar monetary and , eventually, political union. Moreover, the single market project, by put- the EC internal market is achieved, many East ting Eastern Europe before the prospect of European countries even before 1989 had having to face a powerful and compact begun looking at ways to break out of the fur- economic bloc, probably helped make ther economic isolation they risked once the several communist regimes aware of the internal market becomes a reality. near-bankrupt state of their economies. Just The genesis of today s level of cooperation as the EFTA countries were concerned at los- goes back a long way. ing market share and competitiveness once A COMMON HERITACE AND CULTURE The European Council expressed its mitment to democracy, pluralism, the deep satisfaction at developments inCen- rule of law, full respect for human rights, tral and Eastern Europe. It applauds the and the principles of the market continuing process of change in these economy: countries with whose peoples we share a common heritage and culture. This pro- cess of change brings everdoser a Europe Extract from the conclusions of the which, having overcome the unnatural Presidency, meeting of the European divisions imposed on it by ideology and Council confrontation, stands united in its com" Dublin 28 April 1990.