Relations with Germany’s Eastern Neighbors : Germany

Within the very few years since the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, cooperation and partnership between Germany and its eastern neighbors have taken on a totally new quality. The accession to NATO and the European Union of a number of states to the east of our borders will change the countenance of Europe in the years to come. Democracy, the rule of law and modern economic principles have meanwhile become so firmly rooted in several of these states that Germany has every reason to hope that in the foreseeable future - for the first time in many years - it will be able to live not only in peace with all its neighbors but also without a destabilizing prosperity gap.

Further development of a relationship marked by partnership and trust between Germany and the Russian Federation as well as between Germany and the other newly independent states on the territory of the former Soviet Union remains a key priority of German foreign policy. Germany will continue to pursue a course of constructive cooperation with these states. For the policy of the Federal Republic of Germany it is especially important to create the preconditions for European unity and to strengthen the fundamental values of democracy and the rule of law.