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EU LOSES ARMENIA TO RUSSIA'S CUSTOMS UNION
EurActiv
Sept 4 2013
Armenia will join a customs union led by its former Soviet master
Russia, the country's President Serzh Sargsyan said yesterday (3
September), a move incompatible with the free trade agreement the EU
is preparing with Yerevan.
Sargsyan announced the decision after talks with his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin welcomed the move as a
diplomatic victory at a time when Russia is struggling to bring former
Soviet republics closer together and stop Ukraine from slipping into
the the European Union's orbit.
"The Russian side supports the decision by Armenia to enter the
customs union ... We will fully work for this to happen," Putin was
quoted as saying by Reuters.
The EU appeared to be taken by surprise.
"Seems as if Armenia will break talks on free trade agreement with
EU and integrate with Russia instead. U-turn," tweeted Carl Bildt,
the Swedish foreign affairs minister, during a dinner with Nordic
and Baltic foreign ministers he hosted in the medieval Swedish city
of Visby.
"Destiny of our Eastern partners is in their hands and we do care
about neighbours of our neighbours," Å tefan Fule, the enlargement
and neighbourhood commissioner, tweeted from the same event.
Russia is Armenia's largest trading partner, and bilateral trade
grew 22% to $1.2 billion (â~B¬910 million) last year. Russia is
also the biggest foreign investor in the small Eurasian economy,
with a total of $3 billion (â~B¬2.27 billion) investments last year
in a country whose GDP amounted to $9.9 billion (â~B¬7.5 billion)
in 2012, according to the World Bank.
>From a Russian perspective, Yerevan's decision to join its customs
union is more important politically than economically. As the EU
prepares to host a summit in Vilnius with its eastern neighbours -
Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan -, Russia
has simultaneously stepped up the pressure to keep those countries
within its own orbit.
On 28-29 November, the EU's Lithuanian presidency will host the Eastern
Partnership Summit, where association agreements with Moldova, Georgia
and Armenia are expected to be initialled, and where an EU-Ukraine
association agreement is expected to be signed. These agreements are
accompanied by Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTA)
with the EU, which are making Moscow nervous.
Russia has set up its own so-called Customs Union, joined by Belarus
and Kazakhstan. EU officials made it clear that membership of the
Customs Union is incompatible with the DCFTAs.
Financial offer to Ukraine
Russia has so far failed to draw Ukraine into the Customs Union, but
continues to apply pressure on Kyiv to join. Yesterday (3 September),
the Russian daily Kommersant reported that Putin's advisor Sergei
Glyazev had made a financial offer to Ukraine for it to join.
According to Glyazev, Ukraine would benefit $11 to $12 billion
(â~B¬8.34 to â~B¬9.1 billion) per year "in case of its participation to
the Eurasian integration process". Kyiv's benefit from reduced Russian
gas prices would amount to as much as $8 billion (â~B¬6 billion),
he was quoted as saying. Custom duties on gas and oil would also be
abolished, the advisor said, as well as "safeguard" and "technical"
barriers to bilateral trade.
Glyazev said that if Ukraine signs the association agreement with
the EU, it would "lose its independence" and would "stop being a full
partner" with Russia.
Putin's advisor called the EU-Ukraine association agreement
"asymmetrical", arguing that the "EU will receive everything, and
Ukraine will get only what EU deems necessary".
Wine war with Moldova
Meanwhile, Russia is also stepping up pressure on Moldova.
On Monday (2 September), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
warned ChiÈ~YinÄ~Cu, the Moldovan capital, that signing an association
agreement with the European Union would have "serious consequences" for
the country's future. And a Moldovan news website reported yesterday
that Moscow had threatened Chisinau with a "wine war" if went ahead
with its plan. Wine is the flagship export product of Moldova.
According to the website Moldova.org, the Russian Sanitary Service
"Rospotrebnadzor" announced that that some alcoholic beverages
originating from Moldova did not comply with Russian health and
safety regulations.
"Rospotrebnadzor" warned that if the competent authorities in Moldova
did not take action, Russia might decide to ban imports of wines and
other alcoholic beverages from Moldova.
The Moldovan economy relies mainly on agriculture and exports to
the Eastern market, such as Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet
republics, Modova.org said.
EU ministers are expected to discuss "neighbourhood policy" at their
Gymnich-type informal meeting in Vilnius on Friday and Saturday.
However, the potential presence of US State Secretary John Kerry and
the situation in Syria are expected to eclipse the issues concerning
the eastern partners.
http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/eu-loses-armenia-russia-customs-news-530224
From: Baghdasarian
EurActiv
Sept 4 2013
Armenia will join a customs union led by its former Soviet master
Russia, the country's President Serzh Sargsyan said yesterday (3
September), a move incompatible with the free trade agreement the EU
is preparing with Yerevan.
Sargsyan announced the decision after talks with his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin welcomed the move as a
diplomatic victory at a time when Russia is struggling to bring former
Soviet republics closer together and stop Ukraine from slipping into
the the European Union's orbit.
"The Russian side supports the decision by Armenia to enter the
customs union ... We will fully work for this to happen," Putin was
quoted as saying by Reuters.
The EU appeared to be taken by surprise.
"Seems as if Armenia will break talks on free trade agreement with
EU and integrate with Russia instead. U-turn," tweeted Carl Bildt,
the Swedish foreign affairs minister, during a dinner with Nordic
and Baltic foreign ministers he hosted in the medieval Swedish city
of Visby.
"Destiny of our Eastern partners is in their hands and we do care
about neighbours of our neighbours," Å tefan Fule, the enlargement
and neighbourhood commissioner, tweeted from the same event.
Russia is Armenia's largest trading partner, and bilateral trade
grew 22% to $1.2 billion (â~B¬910 million) last year. Russia is
also the biggest foreign investor in the small Eurasian economy,
with a total of $3 billion (â~B¬2.27 billion) investments last year
in a country whose GDP amounted to $9.9 billion (â~B¬7.5 billion)
in 2012, according to the World Bank.
>From a Russian perspective, Yerevan's decision to join its customs
union is more important politically than economically. As the EU
prepares to host a summit in Vilnius with its eastern neighbours -
Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan -, Russia
has simultaneously stepped up the pressure to keep those countries
within its own orbit.
On 28-29 November, the EU's Lithuanian presidency will host the Eastern
Partnership Summit, where association agreements with Moldova, Georgia
and Armenia are expected to be initialled, and where an EU-Ukraine
association agreement is expected to be signed. These agreements are
accompanied by Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTA)
with the EU, which are making Moscow nervous.
Russia has set up its own so-called Customs Union, joined by Belarus
and Kazakhstan. EU officials made it clear that membership of the
Customs Union is incompatible with the DCFTAs.
Financial offer to Ukraine
Russia has so far failed to draw Ukraine into the Customs Union, but
continues to apply pressure on Kyiv to join. Yesterday (3 September),
the Russian daily Kommersant reported that Putin's advisor Sergei
Glyazev had made a financial offer to Ukraine for it to join.
According to Glyazev, Ukraine would benefit $11 to $12 billion
(â~B¬8.34 to â~B¬9.1 billion) per year "in case of its participation to
the Eurasian integration process". Kyiv's benefit from reduced Russian
gas prices would amount to as much as $8 billion (â~B¬6 billion),
he was quoted as saying. Custom duties on gas and oil would also be
abolished, the advisor said, as well as "safeguard" and "technical"
barriers to bilateral trade.
Glyazev said that if Ukraine signs the association agreement with
the EU, it would "lose its independence" and would "stop being a full
partner" with Russia.
Putin's advisor called the EU-Ukraine association agreement
"asymmetrical", arguing that the "EU will receive everything, and
Ukraine will get only what EU deems necessary".
Wine war with Moldova
Meanwhile, Russia is also stepping up pressure on Moldova.
On Monday (2 September), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
warned ChiÈ~YinÄ~Cu, the Moldovan capital, that signing an association
agreement with the European Union would have "serious consequences" for
the country's future. And a Moldovan news website reported yesterday
that Moscow had threatened Chisinau with a "wine war" if went ahead
with its plan. Wine is the flagship export product of Moldova.
According to the website Moldova.org, the Russian Sanitary Service
"Rospotrebnadzor" announced that that some alcoholic beverages
originating from Moldova did not comply with Russian health and
safety regulations.
"Rospotrebnadzor" warned that if the competent authorities in Moldova
did not take action, Russia might decide to ban imports of wines and
other alcoholic beverages from Moldova.
The Moldovan economy relies mainly on agriculture and exports to
the Eastern market, such as Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet
republics, Modova.org said.
EU ministers are expected to discuss "neighbourhood policy" at their
Gymnich-type informal meeting in Vilnius on Friday and Saturday.
However, the potential presence of US State Secretary John Kerry and
the situation in Syria are expected to eclipse the issues concerning
the eastern partners.
http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/eu-loses-armenia-russia-customs-news-530224
From: Baghdasarian