The European community and the countries of the CIS: Political and economic relations

Abstract

In the near future, the EC will conclude partnership agreements with the major countries of the CIS ‐ Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Kazakhstan. Above and beyond the dimensions of economic relations, these agreements symbolize the endeavours being made by Western Europe to mitigate the temporal disjunction of the phases of historical development between West and East ‐ integration in the former, disintegration in the latter ‐ and to give the states of the now defunct Soviet Union new political and economic points of reference. The states of the CIS, for their part, are intent on achieving not only incorporation into a new configuration of international relations but also a firm institutional framework for access to more effective forms of international economic co‐operation, and a new, more dynamic pace of such interaction. Despite interests in co‐operation in both the East and the West, all in all the emerging relationship between the EC and the states of the CIS is marked by contradiction and a lack of political dynamism.