The accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union was a long-term process that began as early as December 1989 with an expression of interest in membership of the European Communities and continued with the association agreement, the submission of the application in January 1996 and the invitation to accession negotiations in December 1997.[1]
The beginnings: 1989–1991
In December 1989 the then prime minister Marián Čalfa sent a letter to the President of the Commission of the European Communities, Jacques Delors, in which he expressed the interest of Czechoslovakia in membership of the European Communities. The first post-November diplomacy, led by Jiří Dienstbier, followed the line of the revolutionary days: the programme principles of the Civic Forum of 26 November 1989 contained a wording about counting on inclusion in European integration, and the slogan "Back to Europe" expressed the aim of the future foreign policy orientation.[1]
Association agreements, the form of which was proposed by the Commission of the European Communities, were meant to ease integration for the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Czechoslovakia began talks on an association agreement on 20 December 1990, and at the end of 1991 the Europe Agreement on the association of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, Hungary and Poland with the European Communities was signed.[1]
The period 1992–1996
When Czechoslovakia broke up in 1992, the European Communities suspended ratification of the Europe Agreement. The independent Czech Republic, whose foreign policy was led by minister Josef Zieleniec, sought to make up for the delay caused by signing the agreement for a second time. In 1993 the Europe Agreement establishing the association of the Czech Republic, on the one hand, and the European Communities and their member states, on the other, was signed. It entered into force on 1 February 1995; until then, relations were governed by an Interim Agreement.[1]
At its meeting in Copenhagen in June 1993, the European Council decided that the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe that wished to do so could become members of the European Union. It made accession conditional on the country's ability to take on the obligations of membership, on the fulfilment of economic and political conditions, and on sufficient administrative and judicial capacity to adopt the acquis.[1]
In December 1994 the European Council in Essen called on the Commission to carry out a detailed analysis of the impact of eastern enlargement on EU policies and their future development. The report was presented at the meeting in Madrid in December 1995, where the Council asked the Commission to prepare, after the end of the intergovernmental conference, opinions on the individual membership applications and a summary document on the progress of enlargement.[1]
The Czech Republic submitted its application for membership of the European Union on 17 January 1996 through prime minister Václav Klaus.[1]
The period 1996–2004
In July 1997 the European Commission published the document Agenda 2000, in which it endorsed the idea of a "stronger and larger union", along with opinions on the readiness of all candidate countries. The Commission also announced that it would regularly inform the European Council about the progress of the candidates from Central and Eastern Europe. In its opinion it recommended opening membership negotiations with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus.[1]
In December 1997 the European Council at its summit in Luxembourg instructed the Commission to prepare regular reports on the progress of the candidate countries in preparing for membership. On the recommendation of the Commission, the European Council at its meeting in Luxembourg on 13 December 1997 decided on the official invitation of 11 candidate countries to join the EU.[1]