Round-table discussion on the Eurasian Economic Union among experts from the EU and Eastern Partnership countries.

The workshop provided a mapping on current discussions and approaches for political education on the EAEU among European experts and decision makers. The workshop sessions were chaired by Dr Wolfgang Sender, Director of Belarus office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

The workshop was based on the expert assumption that the EAEU is a political reality which is already decisively influencing the economic policy agenda of its smaller member states - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan - in many areas. Therefore, even if the EAEU was developed as a counter-model to the European Union, in which a dominant role is being played by Russia, any policy towards the smaller member states shouldn’t be disregarded by the West in the long term.

Mapping of goals, structures and policy areas

The workshop gathered experts with different educational and professional backgrounds: foreign policy, economics, regional research and EU studies. During the event, participants came to the conclusion that the basic knowledge on the EAEU, which is essential in the field of policy advice and policy-making, at this moment is rather rudimentary - both in the West and in the EAEU member states.

The workshop concluded that questions on dealing with the EAEU and influential Russia’s role within it, also with the policy towards smaller EAEU member states, firstly require a deeper, comprehensive understanding of the objectives, structure and policies of the EAEU, which therefore should be at disposal of decision makers in the EU and EAEU.

Concept for strengthening policy advice

In a second step, experts from Germany, Lithuania, Belgium, United Kingdom, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia and Italy discussed current relations between the EU and the members of the EAEU. The discussion was followed by an exchange of views on institutions, working in the field of research and political education on the EAEU.

On the basis of these discussions conducted during the workshop, in the following months, a concept for strengthening policy advice on the EAEU among experts and decision makers in Europe is to be developed.