EU sees EEU as direct economic competitor

Today in Kyrgyzstan at the Ak-Jol road checkpoint on the Bishkek-Almaty road  within the framework of the full-fledged entry of the republic into the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) a ceremony was held of removing customs control posts on the border with Kazakhstan. Full membership of the Republic in the EEU involves the abolition of customs clearance, duties and customs controls at the internal borders of the Union, and the application inside of it of a single customs tariff and quota abolition of examinations for migrant workers and improving their welfare. Product quality standard requirements are imposed in accordance with the technical regulations of the EEU.

Alexey Mukhin, Director General of the Center for Political Information said that  "The idea of Eurasian integration, as you know, was proposed for the first time by Nursultan Nazarbayev, for which  Vladimir Putin regularly expresses special reverence to him. We will never forget it. But we must clearly realize that the partnerships are built on mutual respect and the principle of mutual respect must be the basis of the interstate legal partnership, that we are creating in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Community and which will be created in the near future, despite EU opposition, which sees Eurasian integration as a direct economic competitor"

The European Union, according to Mukhin, sees the Eurasian integration as a direct economic competitor: "our opponents see this as a re-creation of the Soviet Union. That would be too good to be true. Because actually it is impossible to recreate the Soviet Union. One of my friends on the senior staff of the World Bank in the early 1990s told me that, in principle, regarding the dynamics of Russia, if it entered into an economic alliance with Kazakhstan and Ukraine it would solve all its infrastructure problems. And I think that this is known not only to us. It is known in the World Bank, it is known in the United States, it is known in the EU. And a lot of effort is made in order not to give the Eurasian Economic Community a means to develop"

As for Kazakhstan, according to the observations of Mukhin, with him actively "flirting" China: "How much money is pumped into the Kazakhstan! Kazakhstan is currently in the status of women of marriageable age, which seems to be already engaged with Russia and the Customs Union, the Eurasian alliance, but still thinking how to do it, what plans she has to be, as it provides all the features that it provides. We must very carefully ensure that China does. "

As for Ukraine, the expert recalled: "Once there was a real possibility of Ukraine's joining the CU, and Viktor Yanukovich, by the way, the American project, he was elected with the support of the United States, swerved, they say, in the direction of Russia, took the 15-billion loan and started talking about the fact that "why do we need integration, we still think,’’  and we all know what it was all for Victor Yanukovich and Ukraine. The country is completely torn off for the moment, and any attempt to even think that it will join the Eurasian integration is impossible. These are the conditions under which the Eurasian integration is created. But we need to do it"

According to Mukhin, ‘’Eurasianism is an idea that is gradually becoming an ideology, and on the basis of this ideology we can mutually exist in the former Soviet space. The evidence of being an extremely attractive idea is the recent accession to the project of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Of course, you can laugh and say, "Well, even Zimbabwe can join and everything will be fine." Nevertheless, these processes cause extreme concern among our partners for the geopolitical games, in particular the EU, the US and so on. So this is the right direction. So we are going in the right direction "

The expert believes that the success of the project depends on the well-being of not only Russia but also  Kazakhstan, the Central Asian countries, which are now at the forefront of attention of the US, the EU and China: "believe me, the attention is not friendly. This attention is aimed at resources, sources of influence. So I think that this integration, perhaps, for the republics of the former Soviet Union, is the only way to preserve national identity and sovereignty. The failure of this project is a direct path to the marginalization of the economy and the degradation of the political institutions, as happened in Ukraine.’’