THE EUROPEAN-UNION OSTPOLITIK IN THE LIGH T OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT WITH THE CZECH-REPUBLIC

Despite the apparent generosity of the EU's association proposals (ext ensive political dialogue, asymmetrical liberalization of trade), Cent ral and Eastern European countries (CEEC) have often voiced their grie vances with regard to the Union's Ostpolitik. This misunderstanding pr obably has arisen because the EU has not always sufficiently reckoned with the psychological impediments and sensitivity that still characte rize relations between countries in this region. For instance, certain CEECs - considering themselves to be farther ahead in political and e conomic reforms - refuse to be treated like the others. This partly ac counts for the Czech Republic's refusal to have a modified suspensory clause inserted in the Association Agreement that it had to renegotiat e following the breakup of Czechoslovakia. This demand for differentia ted treatment also explains why some members of the Visegrad group hav e reserves about extending their free-trade zone farther east. The EU' s new approach to admitting CEECs suggests a solution to the dilemma i t has encountered when defining its Ostpolitik. By recognizing that al l these countries may eventually join, the EU has calmed those that di d not want to see a new wall dividing Europe. But by subordinating a c ountry's application for membership to an examination of its own accom plishments (and not that of the group of which it is a part), the EU m akes it possible for the more advanced countries to hope for a faster pace of integration.