The Eurasian Economic Union – a sustainable alternative for the former soviet space?

Abstract:

Declared a priority of Moscow’s foreign policy, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has enjoyed special attention from both Western and Russian specialists. However, the assessments by the two camps are often contradictory and do nothing but raise confusion about the prospects of ‘Putin’s pet project’. Although it is too early to have enough economic data for an in-depth analysis, a comparison of the EAEU with similar integration projects could give us some reliable clues about its sustainability and real attractiveness for the former Soviet space.

Given its integration stage, the geographical proximity, the similarity of institutions, and the official discourse of Russian officials that suggests the modeling of the EAEU on the European Union (EU), we found it appropriate to make a comparison between the two economic structures. By assuming a neofunctionalist approach, we have focused on the following criteria: the decision process, the homogeneity of the member states, the duration of the economic integration, the national political regimes and the common monetary and linguistic policies.