Mechanism of integration requires adjustment
08.08.2009 16:53:27
[b]Details of the draft treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union discussed in Minsk[/b]
In line with protocol, such sessions are conducted in two formats: narrow and extended. This time, the presidents added a third format — improvised. At the meeting in the Winter Garden of the Independence Palace they talked for more than two hours. Journalists could only guess at the content of their conversation, although everyone understood its sense — the details which haven’t been settled at the expert level.
Probably, the shape of the summit’s final decisions has been outlined during this conversation. Meanwhile, by the beginning of the session in the narrow format the Heads of State were in no haste to make conclusions. Alexander Lukashenko enumerated the most sensitive moments, with major of these being exemptions and withdrawals during the trade in goods. Even during the stage of formulation of the idea of the Eurasian Economic Union it was voiced that it should rely on 4 freedoms: free movement of goods, services, capital and the labour force along the territory of the integration structure. However, a month before the signing of the treaty, it was proposed to set up a 10-year transition period for the trade in energy carriers. Without this, there won’t be a fully-fledged Customs Union which is designed to mark the beginning of the existence of a higher form of union integration — economic.
At present, this step is vital because of one more reason. The Customs Union of the three states is almost 4 years old and the organisation brings tangible benefits to its participants yet is stopped in its development at this time. The demonstration of the dynamics of the continuation of this process is also an issue of image and authority of the Eurasian integration.
Mr. Lukashenko expressed his opinion regarding the motivation of delay, “They say we may have economic and budgetary difficulties. Don’t we understand this? Then let’s speak about the Eurasian Economic Union in a decade, if we’re not ready for it today.”
Conditions of organisation of automobile cargo traffic were also high on the agenda. There’re fears that after the union treaty is signed the carriers of the third countries may receive competitive advantages over the ‘troika’ subjects. The reasons for such absurd situation should be eliminated in advance. The adoption of new members into the Customs Union, the Single Economic Space and would-be Eurasian Economic Union is another topic. Evidently, the process should be ‘packet-mode’, i.e. a candidate country should accept all agreements (without exceptions) which exist between the states of the ‘troika’ without any delays and special regimes.
Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin agreed that the set issues are really important and acute. They were also unanimous in the opinion that there’s an opportunity to find compromises and settle them in the remaining time…
The work in the narrow format was rather prompt while the session in an extended format lasted longer than the scheduled time. Viktor Khristenko, the Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission, was charged by the presidents to inform journalists about its results. According to him, major disagreements regarding the draft treaty have been settled. Now, only those remain which tackle the bilateral co-operation of the participants. The work on them will continue while the commission was charged to improve the draft treaty till the end of May, taking into account the decisions of the Minsk summit and submit the document to the Heads of state for singing in the previously fixed time.
By Dmitry [b]Kryat[/b]
In line with protocol, such sessions are conducted in two formats: narrow and extended. This time, the presidents added a third format — improvised. At the meeting in the Winter Garden of the Independence Palace they talked for more than two hours. Journalists could only guess at the content of their conversation, although everyone understood its sense — the details which haven’t been settled at the expert level.
Probably, the shape of the summit’s final decisions has been outlined during this conversation. Meanwhile, by the beginning of the session in the narrow format the Heads of State were in no haste to make conclusions. Alexander Lukashenko enumerated the most sensitive moments, with major of these being exemptions and withdrawals during the trade in goods. Even during the stage of formulation of the idea of the Eurasian Economic Union it was voiced that it should rely on 4 freedoms: free movement of goods, services, capital and the labour force along the territory of the integration structure. However, a month before the signing of the treaty, it was proposed to set up a 10-year transition period for the trade in energy carriers. Without this, there won’t be a fully-fledged Customs Union which is designed to mark the beginning of the existence of a higher form of union integration — economic.
At present, this step is vital because of one more reason. The Customs Union of the three states is almost 4 years old and the organisation brings tangible benefits to its participants yet is stopped in its development at this time. The demonstration of the dynamics of the continuation of this process is also an issue of image and authority of the Eurasian integration.
Mr. Lukashenko expressed his opinion regarding the motivation of delay, “They say we may have economic and budgetary difficulties. Don’t we understand this? Then let’s speak about the Eurasian Economic Union in a decade, if we’re not ready for it today.”
Conditions of organisation of automobile cargo traffic were also high on the agenda. There’re fears that after the union treaty is signed the carriers of the third countries may receive competitive advantages over the ‘troika’ subjects. The reasons for such absurd situation should be eliminated in advance. The adoption of new members into the Customs Union, the Single Economic Space and would-be Eurasian Economic Union is another topic. Evidently, the process should be ‘packet-mode’, i.e. a candidate country should accept all agreements (without exceptions) which exist between the states of the ‘troika’ without any delays and special regimes.
Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin agreed that the set issues are really important and acute. They were also unanimous in the opinion that there’s an opportunity to find compromises and settle them in the remaining time…
The work in the narrow format was rather prompt while the session in an extended format lasted longer than the scheduled time. Viktor Khristenko, the Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission, was charged by the presidents to inform journalists about its results. According to him, major disagreements regarding the draft treaty have been settled. Now, only those remain which tackle the bilateral co-operation of the participants. The work on them will continue while the commission was charged to improve the draft treaty till the end of May, taking into account the decisions of the Minsk summit and submit the document to the Heads of state for singing in the previously fixed time.
By Dmitry [b]Kryat[/b]