The Right Union: Eurasian Intergovernmental Council launches meeting in Minsk

27.10.2016

The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council starts its meeting on October 27th in Minsk during which the draft of the new Customs Code and the draft budget approved by the union in 2017 are planned to be discussed. The meeting is held at the level of heads of member-state governments.

A wide range of questions

In addition, the meeting will also discuss such issues as progress in developing control mechanisms over the movement of goods on EAEU territory, questions of trade policy, including procedures for the application of anti-dumping measures, and some aspects of the international activities of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Solid alliance

The EAEU is an international economic integration association functioning since January 1st, 2015, which was created on the basis of the Eurasian Customs Union (EACU) and the Eurasian Economic Space. Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan are currently the members of the EAEU. At the moment, the EAEU is preparing an agreement on a free trade zone with 15 countries.

An example for the EU

Against the background of the collapsing EU, which is unable to consolidate itself, the structure of the EAEU, on the contrary, indicates that the organization has prospects for expanding and further strengthening itself as an integration alliance. One of the reasons for this is that the members of the EAEU are countries which had before been part of the Russian Empire and the USSR. Thus, these members are united by a long history of collaboration and the development of a single project. The EU, on the contrary, consists of states traditionally competing with each other. This union is as an example of a so-called “unnatural” approach to integration, when centuries-old foundations and orders are collapsed for the sake of bringing together countries and economies.