Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
Closer economic cooperation
between the European Union
(EU) and the Eurasian Economic
Union (EEU; comprised of Russia,
Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and
Kyrgyzstan) is desirable. It can
serve as a platform to overcome
the current stalemate between
Russia and the West, lift common
neighbourhood countries from their
unsustainable »in-between« status
and enhance the well-being of all
participants.
• Engagement between the EU and
the EEU can serve as an economic
path to peacebuilding and should run
in parallel to the political resolution
of conflicts such as the Minsk II
process. So far, the unresolved crisis
in Ukraine has been the biggest
political obstacle preventing a formal
dialogue between the EU and the
EEU.
• EU-EEU dialogue could be a
preliminary small step towards
solving more complicated political
crises in Europe. It has the potential
to contribute to the establishment
of a common and indivisible EuroAtlantic and Eurasian security
community as outlined by the OSCE
Astana Declaration of 2010