On May 15th Moscow will host a session of the CSTO and an informal summit of the CIS heads. The head of the Duma committee on CIS affairs and compatriots, Leonid Slutsky, spoke about the agenda of the summits. “As for the Eurasian Economic Union and other arrangements that are planned to be carried out next week, I think the authorities and MPs have learnt a lot about integration processes and have made certain decisions on the places of each in these processes. The question is about peoples and populations. What would Eurasian integration bring to peoples? Who today in Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan, as well as in other countries of the Eurasian space understand and support the ideas of Eurasian integration? I think many people support it, at least they get know about it. However, judging by the internet, blogs and so on, not all the people in civil society and the blogosphere support the idea. The idea is perceived as an initiative of heads of state which doesn't touch the population. For promotion of ideas of integration among people, the work should be intensified,” Slutsky said.
The idea of establishing a Eurasian Economic Union was described by Slutsky as “the moment of truth” for President Putin: “It is of high importance for him. If it is of high importance, we should focus not only on the work with presidents, premiers, and deputies, but also with common people. In this case the Eurasian Economic Union will have another character, it will be an inconvertible situation. I hope it will be supported in the near future by millions of residents of the post-Soviet area.”
Speaking about the prospects for post-Soviet integration, Slutsky said: “Our committee plans to concentrate not only on support of integration process at the top level, but also on perception of these processes by common people. We are interested in the future Eurasian architecture, future development of its models, but we didn’t achieve it at the Interparliamentary Council of the EurAsEC on March 19th… The Russian side proposed reorganizing EurAsEC into the Eurasian Economic Union, but Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazerbayev rejected the proposal. He said that we have only reached the stage of the Common Economic Area, and we plan to establish the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 only. The CEA exists within EurAsEC. EurAsEC that was founded in 2000 is the subject of international law. We meant reorganization of the EurAsEC into another international organization that would be a subject of international law as well. The Russian side proposed the Eurasian Economic Union, anyway the agreement on the Eurasian Economic Union will undergo ratification in all, at least three, countries which are included in the Eurasian Union by January 1st, 2015. This date is defined by the heads of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan for beginning the Eurasian Economic Union’s operation.
However, to establish a Eurasian Economic Union means to repeat the experience of the European Union. Let’s remember 1991, the Treaty of Maastricht. The European Union was established formally, it was a cover without content. The first bricks were built up in 1993 only when Europe began to establish the common market. This is our stage of the Eurasian Economic Union. Europe stated that it wouldn’t reject the idea of the European Union, and as we can see it didn’t.
It is unreasonable to establish some intermediate structure between EurAsEC and the future Eurasian Economic Union and provide a semi-reorganization, as was proposed by the Kazakh side. First of all, why should we establish a structure for 1-2 years only? Secondly, serious changes in two major international treaties should be made: on EurAsEC, 2000, and the Eurasian Economic Commission, 2011. Then, these changes should undergo ratification in each country… What for? The Eurasian Economic Union can be established immediately, which was discussed on March 19th. Later the cover can be filled with content. The point of no return here is beginning of the operation of the future treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.
We, together with Sergey Naryshkin, the chairman of the State Duma, have recently visited Astana. We met the Kazakh President. The position of Nazarbayev today is to preserve EurAsEC. The possible reorganization is about quantity, with shifting to quality through reduction of departments of the Secretariat of the Integration Committee. Probably after the reduction, and if the heads of state support the position, it will move to Alma-Ata. And actually the central structure of the Eurasian space will be the Eurasian Economic Commission headed by Viktor Khristenko. Codification will be provided later, which will fortunately end by 2014. And then the treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union could be signed.
It’s a pity that on March 19th the treaty on reorganization of EurAsEC and establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union was not signed. But now reality of May 15th, the informal summit of heads of states, presupposes reorganization of EurAsEC through reduction of departments of Secretariat of the Integration Committee. The focus will be shifted to Alma-Ata, which will please the Kazakh side. We will establish the Eurasian Economic Union and its parliamentary facility. If EurAsEC stopped its existence on March 19th and the Eurasian Economic Union were to be established, then establishment of the Eurasian Interparliamentary Assembly would take place. It is a supernational structure, a precursor of the future Eurasian Parliament which will be established when the Eurasian Economic Union will be founded, just like the EU and the European Parliament.”
Commenting on the role of the CSTO in integration processes, Slutsky said: “I see the CSTO as the security body of the future Eurasian Economic Union. Of course, we are far from this now. The managing bodies of the CSTO and its head Nikolai Bordyuzha himself do their best to improve the organization functionally and financially, but their efforts are not effective. It is very difficult to compare the CSTO and NATO, while targets which the CSTO will face in the future are similar to those that NATO faces. Of course, it is a different time, different objectives, different countries. Nevertheless, if we speak about a full-scale security body, we should support the CSTO, and it is our common task. We discussed it in Kazakhstan. In 2012 Kazakhstan is the chairman of the CSTO, but progress is not visible. The Parliamentary Assembly of the CSTO is the step-son of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS. But it is normal. The CSTO Parliamentary Assembly is a subdivision of the Secretariat of the CIS IA. It is time to grown up. In late May we will discuss it in Belarus during Naryshkin’s visit. We discuss it with our partners constantly. As for other countries, recently we have talked to Armenia about making the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly an independent structure, as it is presupposed by adopted amendments to the Charter of the CSTO.”
Slutsky thinks that the volume of programs provided by Rossotrudnichestvo is not enough, and it is necessary to improve work with compatriots: “Vectors of our activity are directed from Russia toward compatriots. In the state program of resettlement the vector is the opposite – the point is the return of compatriots to Russia. Scales and pace are insufficient here. In 2010, 9,000 people returned, in 2011 – 31,000 people, but I think the figures should be much bigger. People want to move, but they cannot. Resources allocated within the state program of resettlement are poor. The pioneer in this sphere is not France. It is Germany. Even though it took 55 years after World War II to gather Germans all over the world, they did it perfectly, if we look at the last 15-20 years. Necessary conditions were established. Special centers on cooperation with returners were established under embassies. Of course, the fall of the Berlin Wall postponed the process for 5 years, as resources were allocated to other aims. Nevertheless, we have a brilliant example. Compatriots are a sore subject. Almost all deputies of the State Duma have relatives in post-Soviet countries and in other regions of the world. There is nothing to be explained, we all understand the situation. Russia has financial opportunities for deeper work. Establishment of a common information space is the last element in the organization of work with compatriots.
When the European Union was founded, nobody really believed in it, but they stated: “We will establish the European Union,” and started to move in this direction faster than they expected. By the mid-1990s the EU started real operations and became a powerful supernational union in Europe with professional commissions of European communities. The European newspapers heavily criticized the European Parliament. But it is functioning. Of course, it will always be under contradictions, because it is a parliament. We will establish the union. The question is whether it will be effective, whether it will be supported by authorities of the states. We should define the right MAP for the process. But the main question for next 5-10 years is – will the Eurasian Union be demanded by our population?”
