The signing of the Treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union is scheduled for May 29, when the leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus will gather for a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana - this is the official announcement of the Kremlin press service released today. The document emphasizes that this will complete the formation of the largest common market in the CIS, which is destined to become a powerful new center of economic development.
Meanwhile, as the officials of Kazakhstan have already clarified, the new integration structure is really only economic: all political and humanitarian issues will remain outside of its functions. "Political questions are initially excluded from this contract. Thus there is an understanding that there is political and humanitarian cooperation, but they will be discussed at other venues such as the CIS, CSTO and EurAsEC. There is a large block of bilateral agreements with Russia, about 500 treaties, of which about 17-18 % are part of the social sphere," says deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Samat Ordabaev.
Journalist and political analyst Maxim Shevchenko and the Head of the Eurasian communications center Alexei Pilko have commented on the significance of the upcoming event. Shevchenko expressed confidence that "the Eurasian Union is a natural unique way of development of Russia and its neighbors," thanks to the "experience that no other nation on earth has had, because we are neither Europe nor Asia."
" Certainly, the revival of a totalitarian system is impossible, and it is ridiculous to talk about it. But now we regret the destruction of common economic and strategic planning when huge resources are coordinated from one headquarters, which bases its decisions on consensus positions. Be aware that when you are told that many small Switzerlands are better than one big union, it is not true. Now we are talking not about Russia's expansion somewhere, but about the restoration of a single space, so that people have an opportunity to return the usual socio-economic conditions and to invest in their human resources in the development of the economy," says Shevchenko.
The expert adds that the Eurasian Union is not created to compete with the West. "After the Second World War, the West established the totalitarian rule of the dollar, but today, with the growth of economic actors such as China, India and Brazil, its dominance is fading, and the world does not want to see the dictate of green banknotes any more. The Eurasian Union creates the opportunity to organize a strategic asset base, which will prompt the appearance of active national currencies, giving protection from the dictates of U.S. capital. But it's not only that. The Eurasian Union is a natural unique way of the development of Russia and its neighbors," says Maxim Shevchenko.
Alexei Pilko also notes that the Eurasian Economic Union has nothing to do with the Soviet Union. "The EAEC solves other problems: we are talking about a common economic space, about the facilitation of business for the participating countries. There is also a task of a higher order - to make the world economy pluralistic. Now the unipolar world system has stopped working, and the Eurasian Economic Union can become a bridge between the EU and China. Most likely, soon the world economy will be based not on one center of force, but on three to five, which will protect it from distortions, such as those that led to the crisis in 2008," says Pilko, adding that these two tasks are equally important.
The expert predicts more rapid integration of the Eurasian Union than the similar process in the European Union as "in the global turbulence, our steps must be clear and accurate." However, in his view, many problems can be solved only in the distant future. "For example, the currency exchange agreement will not be considered in the coming years, and a single currency does not have to be cash. All participants of the future union have their own national currency, and this is enough. The deeper the participants integrate, the more questions will arise for discussion, but no one has to share their political sovereignty," Alexey Pilko emphasizes.
