The Eurasian Economic Union: Origin and Development of a new Integration Format Compared with That of the EU

The strengthening in the last years of the integration processes in the former soviet space has attracted the attention of the countries and institutions in the Euro-Atlantic region. The assessments are mostly critical since these phenomena are seen as an attempt by Russia to enlarge again its geopolitical influence in the region. Despite the slowdown of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) project, the phenomenon continues to produce an interest. The integration in the Eurasian space (which does not include only the Eurasian Economic Union) deserves a reflection from the perspective of regional and supranational aggregative dynamics. The Eurasian economic integration has been decided from the top, and carried forward with remarkable rapidity in less then four years. In fact the project promoters, especially Russia and Kazakhstan, see in the birth of the Eurasian Economic Union the culmination of a path started about 20 years ago, and characterized by a series of milestones for increasing integration. However, it is above all since the implementation of the Customs Union that a true supranational integrative path got underway. The project of the EAEU is rather pragmatic and centered on the economic aspects in which the supranational characteristics are theoretically important but in fact evolve slowly. In some points these elements are even less compared to the system of the EurAsEC. However, the Eurasian Economic Union could really have a better chance of success, being based on a specific and more perfect institutional and legal construction, in addition to relying on the obvious geographical, linguistic and historical elements. The European Union model has been an important reference point and widely used in the public discourse of the Russian leadership. Nevertheless, even if from the formal point of view there are many similarities in fact differences are abysmal.