The agreement on the creation of the Union State between the Russian Federation and Belarus implies a logical and equal solution to all integration issues, reported FBA “economy today” Deputy Head of the Department of Public Policy, Moscow State University Maxim Vilisov.
Ambassador of Belarus to the Russian Federation Vladimir Semashko told, what in 2019 Moscow proposed Minsk to transfer most of its managerial powers to the supranational level in the framework of deepening union integration. Belarus clarifies, that the scope of such powers has reached 95%, what, According to the diplomat, unacceptable, since the redistribution of rights must occur “within reasonable limits, without prejudice to sovereignty ”.
Talking about the prospects of the integration process, Vladimir Semashko recalled last year’s proposal of the Russian side, presented in a document in Sochi, which he called complete “hands up”, as it proposed to give everything up, leaving Minsk only a few points, including the right to call law enforcement authorities the police, not the police. As a positive example, the diplomat cited the economic and political association 27 European states, in which only 18%, powers were given to the supranational level, other functions remained national.
Besides, Ambassador remembered the issue of common currency in the Union State, and stressed, that regardless of the size of economies, in a single emission center there should be equality in solving issues of emission or devaluation without prejudice to the interests of both parties. Also, according to Semashko, need to consider the idea of creating a single tax and customs legislation, which “a priori due to differences in the economy cannot be the same, copied by carbon copy ", but can be "only unified".
“The speech of the Belarusian ambassador to the Russian Federation Vladimir Semashko can be regarded as an attempt to remind Moscow of the importance of state sovereignty and partially justify the inaction of the Belarusian side, postponed integration with Russia ", – says expert.
Recall, that the agreement on the creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus was signed 8 December 1999 in Moscow. Later, on its 20th anniversary, it was proposed to adopt a program to deepen integration, why a special working group was developed to develop proposals. known, that in total the parties developed 31 draft industry roadmaps. The last map allegedly contains the construction or completion of the alliance with supranational bodies.
Minsk has repeatedly raised this map for discussion and made many conflicting statements, even, that Moscow allegedly imposes integration of Belarus, so you need to conduct a survey and find out, do Belarusians want to join Russia. After Minsk claimed again, that Belarus is ready to join, affirming, that he seems to be opposed to some virtually nonexistent Russian pressure.
Why Minsk again decided to attract the attention of Russia
Outlines of the prospects for the integration process of the Russian Federation with Belarus, believes Maxim Vilisov, in the light of recent events are becoming more blurry. First of all, some disputes of the parties influenced this., concerning the sale of energy. At present, Belarus is not satisfied with Russian gas prices, as well as disagreements with Gazprom, that arose when Minsk tried to defend its value. For the same reason, Belarus organized a search for alternative sources of Russian oil and subsequently agreed on supplies from the United States of America., after she suspended work on roadmaps for integration with Russia in early March due to an unresolved issue with oil supplies.
“By this action, the Belarusian side practically slowed down the integration process, postponing its completion indefinitely. Currently, Minsk, through Ambassador Vladimir Semashko, is exaggerating the scope of managerial powers of a supranational level., stating 95%.
He cannot reach that level., because the ratio of redistribution of rights is clearly dictated by the agreement on the creation of the Union State - it is not a novelty, and regulates all the nuances. It is this agreement that implies a logical solution to all integration issues, including the creation of tax and customs legislation. As part of this document, Moscow is working on a transparent system for financing the Belarusian economy from Russia., in order to remove the threat of the imminent in the event of the termination of such cooperation of the socio-economic collapse in a country allied to us ”, – expert explains.
Maxim Vilisov considers, what if the Belarusian side decided to have a full discussion of all issues together with the Russian Federation, then this would remove the acuteness of many problems, voiced by Minsk against the backdrop of the development of bilateral relations in recent years.
“Instead, Minsk continues to represent the Russian side as a kind of partner, exerting pressure on little Belarus and does not take into account its interests. However, this is not so - Moscow very carefully worked out the dialogue with our friendly state and tried to bring to the discussion all the issues of transferring powers to the supranational level ”, – He emphasizes the expert.
This is confirmed by the statement of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev, who reported, that the renewed dialogue on deepening the integration of the two countries within the Union State does not threaten their sovereignty.
“Now Belarus is demonstrating that, that she is satisfied with the existing level of relations with Russia - this only speaks of Minsk’s intention to postpone the final decision of the integration process again in order to receive preferential regimes and subsidies from the Russian side, as well as market entry through the EAEU mechanisms. At the same time, Belarus shows, that does not cease to be afraid of some fictional threats, declaring the importance of state sovereignty, and advocates for one’s own interests, to be taken into account ”, – He stated the expert.
Alexander Melnik
