Relations With The EU
All former participating countries had previously signed association agreements with the EU, so in fact CEFTA has served as a preparation for full European Union membership. Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the EU on 1 May 2004, with Bulgaria and Romania following suit on 1 January 2007. Croatia is to join the EU in 2013. Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro are also official candidate countries of the EU.
At the EU's recommendation, the future members prepared for membership by establishing free trade areas. A large proportion of CEFTA foreign trade is with EU countries.
Read more about this topic: Central European Free Trade Agreement
Famous quotes containing the words relations with and/or relations:
“I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I know all those people. I have friendly, social, and criminal relations with the whole lot of them.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)