The Eurasian Customs Union: What’s in it for the EU?

IMGXYZ3985IMGZYXThe Eurasian customs union formed by Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan in 2010—the largest in the world by territory—is becoming very real. As its influence on the world stage and in Europe’s neighborhood is likely to increase, the European Union should attempt to understand the project and find ways to protect its own interests.

To mark the launch of her new paper, “The Eurasian Customs Union and the EU: Friends or Foes?,” Carnegie’s Olga Shumylo-Tapiola discussed this initiative and its impending implications for the EU with Vladimir Epaneshnikov, senior counsellor of commercial affairs at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union, Sergey Kopyrkin, deputy permanent representative of political and administrative affairs at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union, and Peter Balas, deputy director general for External Trade at the European Commission. Carnegie's Judy Dempsey moderated.