The EU has established association agreements with all countries in the process of joining the EU (applicant countries), which are called "Europe agreements".
The agreements include political dialogue and free trade for most products, but not for agricultural goods in which the applicant countries are very competitive. The Europe agreements have not hindered the new memberstates from running ever-growing deficits (and therefore debts) in their balance of trade with the EU. T
he Europe agreements also contain pre-accession aid to the applicant countries to help them cope with EU harmonisation of their laws.
Links
See also Agreements with other countries.