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The analysis of the Baltic transition reveals the importance of external actors' participation in the process of state transformation. Based on the experiences of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, this article establishes six broad policy principles for effective external engagement. First, the nature, level, and scope of engagement directly correlates with the sustainability of transition. Second; equality in bilateral cooperation brings trust and openness among partners. Third, for a transitional state to succeed it needs sufficient external motivation to sustain it through political and economic fluctuations. Fourth, if foreign aid does not come hand in hand with adequate accountability standards, it brings corruption and stagnation. Fifth, building local (and not foreign) capacity is the primary duty of an external actor. Finally, the reputation of an external actor is as important as the work that this actor conducts. All these principles form the backbone of successful and sustainable actor-to-actor cooperation.

The period between March 1990 and June 1993 represents the critical window for European Union (EU)—Baltic relations. During this time Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania laid the foundation for future EU membership. For its part, the European community made a commitment to include the three republics in the process of enlargement. This paper traces the beginnings of EU—Baltic cooperation and examines factors that led to growing political and economic convergence. Nordic membership in the EU, ex-Soviet troop withdrawal, and Russian parliamentary elections were instrumental in bringing both sides together on the road to enlargement, but collective guilt provided the underlying rationale. In this paper, the author argues that it is impossible to understand fully this process of convergence without taking into account the connotations and consequences of the “black trinity”: the Munich pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and the Yalta agreement.