3 Ex-East Bloc Nations Forge Ties With EC

Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary reached historic agreements Friday to become associate members of the European Community, a giant stride toward full membership for the three former Soviet satellite nations in the Western European economic club.

The agreements, to be signed Dec. 16 by ministers from the EC and the three Eastern European countries, came after a year of hard bargaining that eroded some of the EC’s resistance to opening its markets to Eastern European farm goods and other products.

“This is another step toward getting reintegrated in the European family,” said Zdenko Pirek, Czechoslovakia’s deputy foreign minister. “Our final aim is to become a full-fledged member of the EC.”

The accords further extend the reach of the EC beyond its own 12 Western European member nations. Just last month, the EC concluded an agreement for a free-trade zone with the seven nations of the European Free Trade Assn., which constitute virtually all the rest of Western Europe. The EC has also begun preliminary talks with Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and the three new Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In a speech earlier this week, EC President Jacques Delors foresaw a European Community early in the next century “which will perhaps comprise 15 or 20 or 25 members.”

Pablo Benavides, the EC’s chief negotiator with the Eastern European countries, said the accords that were initialed by himself and Polish, Czech and Hungarian negotiators Friday fall short of being “an entry ticket” to the EC. “They attempt to prepare the way for future full membership in the community for these three countries,” Benavides said.

Some of the trade provisions could take effect as early as March 1, although the agreements will otherwise take force only after they are ratified by the EC’s European Parliament and the legislatures of the 15 nations involved. None of the negotiators foresaw rejection, even in the new and highly divided Polish Parliament.

“I don’t expect major difficulties,” said Jaroslaw Mulewicz, the Polish negotiator. While acknowledging the difficulty of predicting political events in his country, he said the major factions represented in Parliament have all indicated their approval of the agreements.

The accords, which may still require some technical adjustments, were not made public.

There was give and take on several issues. For example, on trade, the EC--under pressure from French cattle farmers--retained its existing quota on Eastern European beef, according to Polish negotiator Mulewicz. But it agreed to gradually increase its purchases of chicken and pork. “We are satisfied,” said Endre Juhasz, Hungary’s chief negotiator, “but we are not entirely happy.”

The accords, Benavides said, should facilitate existing Western financial aid programs for the three Eastern European countries. More than that, according to the Eastern Europeans, they should encourage much-needed foreign investment in their incipient market economies by increasing confidence in the industrial world that economic reform in the East will continue.

“The effect should be political, economic and even psychological . . . “ said Hungary’s Juhasz. “This is a first step toward full integration with the EC. A very challenging road is opening up.”

The EC opened negotiations with the three Eastern European countries last December, and talks proceeded at what Benavides described as a “frantic pace.” The EC met formally with each Eastern country once a month. Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary broke off the talks temporarily last summer, protesting that the EC had refused to open its markets to their agricultural products, textiles and steel.

It was the abortive hard-line coup in the Soviet Union in August that got the talks back on track. The EC, eager to bring the three Eastern European nations into the fold before similar events could occur there, softened its bargaining stance, but only after France initially resisted.

Knotty issues remained to the end. Spain was reportedly assured only hours before the accords were initialed that they included what Benavides described as “sufficient safeguards” against a tide of Eastern European steel that would put Spanish plants out of business.

The 12 EC nations are Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Expanding EC

Key elements of the European Community accords with Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary: Trade. Both sides agreed to buy more of the other’s products, with the EC giving more ground than the Eastern Europeans on industrial goods. The EC retained its existing quota on Eastern European beef but agreed to gradually increase purchases of chicken and pork. In all products but agriculture, fully free trade between the two sides should occur in 10 years. Workers. There is no guarantee of free movement of workers to the EC. Polish, Czech and Hungarian workers who are now legally in EC countries must be accorded the same rights as EC workers, but the 12 EC countries may decide individually how many to accept. Finance. Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary are expected to adopt the same laws already in place in the EC governing such matters as finance and investment.