EU-Russia

03/17/08

(2007, RUS) Investicii i sotrudnichestvo v gidroenergetike Centralnoy Asii. [Investments and Cooperation in Central Asian Hydroenergy], Kontinent Partnerstva, September, p.42-54.

(2007, ENG) Financing Infrastructure in Central Asia: Water and Energy Nexus, World Finance Review, Spring issue, 135-139.

There are several elements which will eventually lead to an optimal solution for the Central Asian water and energy nexus. The availability of purely financial solutions should be framed politically. Under the new conditions of political independence and market economy, an efficient utilization of water and energy resources is only feasible on the basis of market-based regulation within an efficient political and regulatory framework.

EurAsEC is on its way to adopting the Concept for the efficient utilization of water and energy resources in Central Asia. The Concept foresees: (1) the participation of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, with the possible participation of Turkmenistan; (2) the synchronization of investment activities and water and energy regulation efforts; (3) the establishment of a permanent interstate executive body functioning as an investor and a dispatcher. Along with the Central Asian states, Russia is supposed to play an important role in the process as an investor, machinery supplier, and importer of electricity.

Given the complexity of interests involved, infrastructure development in Central Asia demands co-financing of large-scale investment projects with the participation of various states and multilateral development institutions.

(2007, RUS) Cooperation of Russian and Kazakh Nuclear Industries: Is There a Potential for Integration? Presentation paper for the first EDB Round Table on Regional Integration, Almaty, 30 October 2007.

(2007, ENG) Nuclear Renaissance in Kazakhstan and Russia: Prospects for Industrial Cooperation and Financing, World Finance Review, Fall issue, p.74-79.

(2007, RUS) Perspektivy integracii atomno-energeticheskikh kompleksov Rossii i Kazakhstana v kontekste processov ekonomickeskoy integracii [Prospects of Integration of Russian and Kazakhstani Nuclear Industries in the Context of Economic Integration Processes], Atomnaya Strategiya (Nuclear Strategy), July, p.24-26,

The world’s nuclear industry is entering a phase of revival. The northern Eurasian countries, notably Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus, are experiencing a surge in interest in the nuclear industry as well.

For Russia, there is a strong necessity to cooperate closely with Kazakhstan. However, now Russia has to enter into serious competition with the world’s leading market players. Taking into consideration the higher exploration costs of uranium deposits on Russian territory, the increasing demands for uranium in the world, and Kazakhstan’s consistent policy to diversify its partners, Russia will have to move swiftly and efficiently in order to gain its share of Kazakhstan’s uranium and deepen cooperation along the nuclear technological chain.

The development of nuclear energy demands massive financing, which can be provided by a wide variety of sources. Financing by development banks, justified by the industry’s great potential for energy production, innovation, diversification, and economic integration, represents a new and promising source.

The current conditions and demands of the Kazakh and Russian national economies determine the economic efficiency of existing ambitious development plans, complemented by deep cooperation between two countries. However efficient economic cooperation might be, the potential of political integration in this sector is limited as the demand for institutional integration is small. Further research should be based on a deeper analysis in the framework of regional integration theories.

Malfliet, Katlijn, Verpoest, Lien, Vinokurov, Evgeny (eds.) (2007), The CIS, the EU, and Russia: Challenges of Integration, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

The CIS, the EU and Russia focuses on the challenges of integration that face countries in the post-Soviet space, in particular Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. The book explores these challenges and analyses the links between various integration mechanisms (including the EU), state policies and elite interests on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

While research on the EU policy of the post-Soviet states has been intensified in recent years, the CIS dimension has remained relatively under-researched. Furthermore, the EU and the CIS dimensions are normally treated separately. The aim of this project is to combine both dimensions under the angle of the integration processes and to analyse them as mutually dependent processes.

The book consists of three parts. The first, introductory part gives an overview of CIS integration since 1991 and the substantial role that Russia plays in this process up until the present day. The second part focuses on the post-Soviet states' relations with the European Union and 'soft' cooperational structures like the New Neighbourhood Policy. The third part combines the two vectors and sets out to detect patterns of integration that include both CIS and EU vectors. The main question that arises focuses on the compatibility of these integration patterns.

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The book can be ordered at www.palgrave.com or www.amazon.com

Introduction
PART I: IN PURSUIT OF INTEGRATION IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE
The Post-Soviet Space: From the USSR to the Commonwealth of Independent States and Beyond; I.Kobrinskaya
Russian Approaches to Integration in the Post-Soviet Space in the 2000s; E.Vinokurov
Russia's Pursuit of its Eurasian Security Interests: Weighing the CIS and Alternative Bilateral-Multilateral Arrangements; J.Willerton & M.Beznosov
PART II: THE EU AND THE POST-SOVIET SPACE
The Clash of Integration Processes? The Shadow Effect of the Enlarged EU on its Eastern Neighbours; T.Casier
EU Policies towards Russia: Secondary Integration by Association?; H.Moroff
EU- Russia Relations in EU Neighbourhood Policies; M.Vahl
PART III: PATTERNS OF INTEGRATION
Parallels and Divergences of Integration in Ukraine and Belarus; L.Verpoest
Patterns of Integration and Regime Compatibility: Ukraine between the CIS and the EU; R.Dragneva & A.Dimitrova
Integration by Absorption: New Subjects for the Russian Federation; G.Kurdiukov & K.Malfliet
The EU-Russia Common Economic Space and the Policy-Taker Problem; E.Vinokurov
Conclusion: Challenges of Integration: the EU, the CIS and Russia

Russian Approaches to Integration on the Post-Soviet Space in the 2000s

The re-worked English version was published in: Malfliet, Katlijn, Verpoest, Lien, Vinokurov, Evgeny (eds.) (2007) The EU, the CIS, and Russia: the Challenges of Integration, Palgrave Macmillan, London. The Dutch version of the paper was published as: (2005) Russische benaderingen van de integratieproblematiek. De post-sovjetruimte aan het begin van de 21e eeuw, Oost-Europa Tijdingen, (5): 2-29.

The Making of the Concept of EU-Russia Common Economic Space

Chair Interbrew Baillet-Latour Working Paper No.22. 2004. PDF file.

The paper starts with the analysis of the negotiation process leading to the adoption of the Concept of the Common Economic Space (CES) between the EU and Russia. Focusing on the Russian side, it delineates the phases and main activities of the negotiations. The paper comes to conclusion that the negotiation process on the Russia's side was of an essentially top-down nature, with the dominant role of the governmental bureaucracies and little participation of the business community and the general public. The impact of the economic assessments and studies was limited, too. The paper proceeds with the analysis of the choice of a model for the CES envisaged in the Concept. It argues that the Concept of CES represents an original model in itself, combining elements of the EEA and 'Swiss' models; that is, it unites both horizontal and sectoral approaches. It is questionable whether the model envisaged in the Concept is capable to provide a satisfactory solution to the policy-taker challenge.

A re-worked version of the paper was published in: Bruno, Sergi. Bagatelas, William, Kubicova, Jana (ed.) (2007) Trade and Industry Developments in Central and Eastern Europe, Ashgate, London.

Kaliningrad in the Framework of the EU-Russian Dialogue: Moving Toward Common Spaces.

Chair Interbrew Baillet-Latour Working Paper No.20. 2004. PDF file.

The paper explores the evolvement and change of approaches of both Russia and the EU to the Kaliningrad question over the last decade. Different understandings of the Kaliningrad question as well as different concepts of the region dominate foreign policy in the EU and Russia. Nevertheless, a trend for a slow rapprochement is revealed. As the EU and Russia discuss ideas and concepts of EU-Russian Common Spaces, the Kaliningrad Region can be of positive value to EU-Russian relations. It will be far-sighted of the EU and Russia to make Kaliningrad an integral part of the dialogue on Common Spaces so that the Oblast might become one of the connecting knots of European-Russian cooperation.

David Kernohan and Evgeny Vinokurov. The EU-Russia WTO Deal: Balancing Mid-term and Longer-term Growth Prospects?

CEPS Commentary, October 2004. Primary address. http://www.ceps.be/Article.php?article_id=382&

This site was last updated 03/17/08