The European Union Policy Towards the Post-Soviet Countries of Central Asia

The European Union develops multilateral and multidimensional international activities by the use of common long-term strategies and developmental programmes in political, economic, security and cultural spheres. The empirical study underlines that Central Asia is perceived by the EU as an outlying yet neighboring territory. On the other hand, the EU remains a marginal player in Central Asia. The EU is not a great power in the region and cannot compete with China, Russia or the US in hard power politics. However, the European Union has developed a common strategy towards the Central Asia region as a whole. In turn, bilateral relations are based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements where the strategy areas are outlined. The author indicates that the European Union strategy towards the region is based mainly on a political and security approach. The EU wants to play a normative role in its relations with external partners. Thus, economic development does not always reflect the political dimension, however, political initiatives can have a strong economic impact. Recently, the mutual relations of the EU with the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia have increased over the last years. Moreover, the EU has tried to increase its presence in the region, beyond simply a diplomatic dimension.