Analysiert werden die Prozesse der Annäherung zwischen der Europäischen Union und Ungarn, Polen, der Tschechischen und der Slowakischen Republik, mit denen die EU Assoziierungsverträge abgeschlossen hat. Inhalt: 1. Introduction and Summary: Barbara Lippert / Heinrich Schneider: Association and Beyond: The European Union and the Visegrád States (25-45). 2. The Context: The European Union and Central and Eastern Europe: Barbara Lippert: EC-Ostpolitik Revisited: Continuity and New Approaches (49-68); Heinrich Schneider: The Changing Pan-European Scene for Association-Policy with East and Central Europe: The European Union's Enlargement to the East (69-93). 3. Foreign Policy Orientations in the Visegrád States - Country Reports: Béla Kolozsi: Hungary's Return to Traditional European Foreign Policy Patterns (97-109); Wojciech Lamentowicz / Janusz Stefanowicz: Poland: Towards a Modern Concept of Sovereignty in an Integrated Europe (111-124); Vladimír Handl: Translating the Czech Vision of Europe into Foreign Policy - Historical Conditions and Current Approaches (125-148); Darina Malova: Slovakia as a New Foreign Policy Actor: Equal Partnership and European Integration (149-159); András Inotai: The Visegrád Four: More Competition than Regional Cooperation? (161-174). 4. Negotiating the Europe Agreements: Interests, Strategies, Experiences, and Evaluations: Margit Råcz: Economic Aspects of Hungarian-EC Association: Improvements in Trade but Little Assistance to Transformation (177-185); Jan Mulewicz: Complex Bargaining with a Difficult Partner - Poland's Experiences with the Community (187-201); Karel Jezek: Reaching the Optimal Compromise - The Europe Agreement between the CSFR and the Community (203-215); Barbara Lippert: Shaping and Evaluating the Europe Agreements - The Community Side (217-247). 5. Aspects of Implementation: Elfriede Regelsberger: Political Dialogue with the Visegrád Group: Only Business as Usual at High Speed? (251-266); Karel Jezek: The Multilateralization of the Political Dialogue: First Experiences (267-273); Tibor Kiss: Prospects of the Political Dialogue after the Copenhagen Summit - A Hungarian Perspective (275-284); Janusz Stefanowicz: Polish Implementation Programmes for the Europe Agreement: A preliminary Record (285-294); András Inotai: Economic Impact of the Association Agreement. The Case of Hungary (295-325); Vladislav Cihlár / Jan Hrich: Achievements by the Czech Republic on its Road to the European Union (327-338); Pavol Ondr_ka: Economic Policy of Slovakia in the Association Framework - A long-term Process (339-348). 6. Options and Scenarios: Heinrich Schneider: Political-Cultural Prerequisites for an Integration of the Four Associated Central and Eastern European States into the European Union (351-382); Wolfgang Wessels: How to Mix Transformation and Integration: Strategies, Options and Scenarios (383-404).