By Vestnik Kavkaza
Two weeks ago the new EU Special Representative for Central Asia, Peter Burian, came into office. He will deal with improvement of political coordination with the countries of the region, monitor fulfillment of the EU strategy for Central Asia, and maintain regional security. Earlier, Burian was the State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Slovakia, the ambassador to the USA, the special envoy of Slovakia to the UN SC and the UN itself. Will the policy of the EU change in Central Asia?
Dmitry Alexandrov, head of the Section for Central Asian Studies of the Center for Studies of Neighboring Countries of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, says that the EU has an economic interest in the region: “It is an interest in Kazakhstan in hydrocarbons and other minerals. And potentially to a greater degree in a hydrocarbon war with Turkmenistan. My colleague can tell you more about this. It is worth underlining infrastructure projects such as TRACEC, i.e., infrastructure bridges that should link China, Central Asia and Europe.”
In the field of politics and security, it is to a greater degree a support function in relation to US policy in the region, according to Alexandrov: “It is worth noting, above all, Afghanistan. And in general, it still remains now. It is a formation of the pro-Western elites. In general, the EU reached specific success by means of educational programs, activities of the IFO, cooperation with government organizations. And restraining Russia's influence and partly China’s influence.”
Democratization is an important point in terms of political matters. “According to numerous Central EU officials, the democratization processes and modes in the Central Asian republics to a higher degree have to follow the EU countries in terms of democratization, but there are no significant successes. Certainly, from the viewpoint of the EU officials. And from my point of view, one more very important detail is hidden support of radical nationalist and liberal structures. There is nothing new, because the USA is actively involved in this process,” the expert thinks.
He reminds that an integrative program of cooperation has been operating since 2007: “The EU is succeeding in the development of normative documents. But it is worth noting that, in comparison with other regions, the successes of the EU in Central Asia have encountered a number of problems. From my viewpoint, the EU's ambitions in the region are overstated, there is no unified policy. By the way, the crisis situation in Uzbekistan in 2005 in Andijan clearly showed, because the position of Germany was quite a restrained position, a number of Scandinavian countries had their own position, the position of France, and also the position of the UK that was more strict,” Alexandrov says.
According to him, there is a specific presence of a bureaucratic process: “On paper, all is well in the cooperation between the EU and the countries of Central Asia. But in reality, many programs are not implemented. The EU really does not want to invest serious funds in the countries of Central Asia. It is enough to say that, according to the afore-mentioned program, in 2007-2013 – the early years of cooperation – the EU should have allocated 700 million euros to five republics for various programs. And these five countries are quite large: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan. But it's actually meager funds. Nowadays, according to the current program, it is to be allocated about 1 billion euros. The program is till 2020. But it also does not show the EU’s desire to invest serious funds in the countries of Central Asia.”
