Moscow will sum up the first year of the Eurasian Economic Union

On December 21st in Moscow, the main session of the supranational body of the Eurasian Economic Union - the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council - is to open. The meeting will be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the heads of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. The results of the first year of the Eurasian Economic Union will be discussed, and guidelines will be identified for the further development of the integration of the association. It is planned that among other issues, the expansion of cooperation with other countries and integration into the association will be discussed.

Geopolitical perspective

The Eurasian Economic Union is the union of the space of the Heartland of Eurasia. Its main geopolitical task is the integration of this space which previously disintegrated into nation-states with the collapse of the Soviet Union, is developed in accordance with the popular neo-functionalist spillover theory that says that economic integration will necessarily develop into political integration.

Background

The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was the first leader who proposed the idea of creating an Eurasian Union in 1994. Integration within the Eurasian Economic Association has been prepared under previous integration structures: the Eurasian Economic Community, Customs Union, and Common Economic Space.

The Eurasian Economic Union has an international legal personality. It ensures free movement of goods and services, capital and labor, and a coordinated, coherent and unified policy in various sectors of the economy.

Achievements

After one year, it is too early to talk about significant effects on the economy within the integration association. One plus can be seen in the expansion of the Union: Kyrgyzstan joined it in August of 2015

The negative impact of the crisis in the dynamics of the world economy, as well as negative trends in the economy of the engine of integration – Russia - related to Western sanctions, the depreciation of the ruble and falling oil prices, affected the start of the Union. The depreciation of the Tenge as well as the fall of oil prices also adversely affected the economy of Kazakhstan. The result was a decline in trade between the countries.

Geopolitical potential

Despite the economic difficulties in the integration process, it attracted new countries willing to cooperate with the great Eurasian Space. The EEU signed an agreement to establish a free trade zone with Vietnam. A desire to join the free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union was shown by Syria, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, Albania, Mongolia, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. The question of the special relationship of the new integration association with China are widely discussed.

Problems

The main internal problem of the Union is the fear of Kazakh and Belorussian elites, that they may lose a part of their sovereignty in the framework of integration. The Union is seen as a project of imperial expansion by Russia, as it partially is.

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Moscow will sum up the first year of the Eurasian Economic Union