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the accession of the Western Balkan states to the EU, the Union offered
these states the “Stabilization and Association Agreements” which draw
clear prospects for EU membership (the EU-Montenegro Stabilization
and Association Agreement would be a vivid example). 108
It is worth mentioning that the EU-Montenegro agreement
underlines the EU’s recognition of Montenegro as a potential candidate
for EU membership – the status which has been discussed in detail in
the previous chapter. Also, it is important that Croatia, which acceded
to the Union in 2013, became the Union’s member through implementing
109
the similar EU-Croatia Stabilization and Association Agreement.

Eastern Partnership Initiative and
Pre-conditions for its Introduction

The Eastern Partnership was jointly initiated by Poland and Sweden in
2008. The policy is aimed at deepening relations between the EU and
its eastern neighbors Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Belarus. The Eastern Partnership (EaP) was developed within the
European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) of 2003 and since 2009 represents
the ENP’s eastern dimension.
The ENP itself was created in response to the massive 2004-
2007 enlargement of the Union for establishing deeper and more
comprehensive relationships with the new neighbors of the Union.
The first official documents on the ENP were published by the
European Commission in March and July 2003 . The documents,
111
110
among other important topics, specified the geographical area
108 Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their
Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A22010A0429%2801%29
109 The Stabilization and Association Agreement with Croatia enters into Force
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_05_122
Communication from the Commission to the Council and The European Parliament:
110
Wider Europe — Neighbourhood: A New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and
Southern Neighbours
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2003:0104:FIN:EN:PDF
111 Communication from the Commission: Paving the way for a New Neighbourhood
Instrument
https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/communic/wider/
wider_en.pdf