| Abstract: | In the 1990s the European Community is confronted with a dilemma: further economic, monetary and political integration of the Twelve will only be successful in the context of a stable European continent; economic and political cooperation between Brussels and Central Europe is therefore imperative. The recently signed association agreements are only the first, tentative steps of the EC to foster closer cooperation, whereby the issues of Central European market access and future entry into the Community will remain major irritants. Brussels seems unable to choose between the “widening” and the “deepening” of the Community. This article argues that both options will be extremely difficult to combine. The EC will need lavish financial resources as well as abundant political statesmanship when it will handle further West European integration and the inclusion of Central Europe in the “new European architecture” simultaneously. |
