EU - Central Asia relations: Articles

Le retrait chaotique des États-Unis d’Afghanistan en août 2021 pouvait laisser présager une perte d’influence durable en Asie centrale. La guerre en Ukraine a rebattu les cartes : les États centrasiatiques ont pris leurs distances avec Moscou et cherchent à diversifier leurs partenariats internationaux. Washington y voit l’opportunité d’un retour dans la région qui prend notamment la forme de coopérations renouvelées dans les domaines sécuritaire et énergétique.

Le conflit en Ukraine imposé par la Russie ne suscite pas l’approbation des anciennes républiques soviétiques d’Asie centrale. Bien au contraire, il y a une prise de distance avec Moscou, tandis que la Chine consolide son emprise, bénéficiant de sa puissance économique et des investissements en cours.

L’Asie centrale fait l’objet de l’intérêt par les grandes puissances environnant la zone. Alors que les États-Unis sont plutôt sur le repli, la Turquie, la Russie et la Chine ont des ambitions géopolitiques, sans oublier l’Iran. L’activisme de ces États traduit la multipolarité croissante d’un nouvel ordre mondial désordonné.

On February 5, 2020, the Trump administration released the United States Strategy for Central Asia 2019-2025: Advancing Sovereignty and Economic Prosperity.1 Observers have dismissed it as "sour wine in an old bottle" and "an old recipe for a new situation, "2 but some of the changes elaborated in the document deserve more attention. This strategy was issued in the context of increased efforts by the US government to contain Russia and China, reflecting its intention to put pressure on China and Russia by using countries in Central Asia.
The implementation of this strategy may have a significant impact on the evolution of the situation in Central Asia and surrounding regions.

Critics have argued that the provision of support by the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to Central Asian police risks reinforcing authoritarianism. This article examines OSCE police-related activities in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan during the 2010s, highlighting persistent gaps between the OSCE's commitment to democratic policing and OSCE practices on the ground.

The difficulty of building long-lasting peace and comprehensive security in societies emerging from conflict and external rule seems to be particularly pronounced in the peripheries of the former Soviet Union and its sphere of influence. The limited success and failures of long-standing efforts to build up and shape state structures and institutions that guarantee democratic, peaceful and secure development have led to increased questioning of the assumptions of liberal and institutionalist approaches that have long dominated scientific and policy debates.

Long-term changes propelled by the clean-energy transition—in the distribution of geopolitical power, the meaning of sustainable energy consumption, and the scope and character of interdependence—are transforming the global energy order. Dependence on new critical materials and metals—such as chromium, copper, germanium and lithium, all essential inputs for many clean energy technologies—reflects new patterns of asymmetrical interdependence and calls into question some of our assumptions about oil and gas as strategic goods.

This article argues that in the contentious energy market of Central Asia transnational corporations (TNCs) and local governments are the real forces at play. While the European Union (EU) has repeatedly shown interest in the region, scarce profitability of the economic ventures and lack of control over the actual investors have resulted in a loss of interest. Deconstructing the EU energy security strategy towards Central Asia, this article reflects how TNCs formally based in Europe have used the ‘Shield of Nationality’ as protection from the blows of resource-rich governments, while remaining driven by capital accumulation. A case study of the Italian oil and gas company ENI in Kazakhstan highlights how the mediation of home governments between corporations and local administrations depends on its relationship with the TNC.

Kazakhstan is the leading producer of uranium ore in the world, but most of its uranium is enriched in Russia and exported via Russian ports. A potential United States (US) and/or European Union (EU) ban on uranium civilian reactor fuel exports from Russia may close this route for Kazakhstan.

This publication argues that the EU risks negative consequences if it continues to let economic interests prevail over its stated aim of promoting human rights in its relations with Central Asia. The strengthening of authoritarian regimes in Central Asia has led to the growth of social tensions and an increase in the number of possible hotbeds of radicalisation in the region, posing direct threats to the EU in matters of security, the influx of migrants and the protection of investments.

Today, the European Commission published the results of the Study on Sustainable Transport Connections between Europe and Central Asia as one of the actions taken to implement the Global Gateway strategy, offering a solid basis for major potential investments in sustainable transport connections between the EU and Central Asia. The study conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and funded by the EU identifies a network of the most sustainable transport connections and investment opportunities for the five Central Asian countries to maximise their sustainable economic potential by linking up better with each other – and with Europe.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) starts from Southeast Asia and China, runs through Kazakhstan, the Caspian sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and further to European countries.
To know more on the TITR

Despite being strategically located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Central Asia has long been poorly connected: remote, landlocked, cut off from the main population centres of Europe and Asia by empty steppes and rugged mountains. As well as physical barriers, regulatory obstacles and political repression often inhibit the free flow of people, goods, services and ideas. However, in 2013 China announced its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), one of whose aims is to revive the historic Silk Road trade route connecting Europe to the Far East via Central Asia.

TRACECA is an internationally recognized programme aimed at strengthening of economic relations, trade and transport communication in the regions of the Black Sea basin, South Caucasus and Central Asia owing to active work based on political will and common aspirations of all member-states.
In September 1998 at the historic Summit in Baku 12 TRACECA countries signed the “Basic Multilateral Agreement on International Transport for Development of the Europe-the Caucasus-Asia Corridor” (MLA) with the aim of implementing in full of their geopolitical and economic potentials. In 2009, the Islamic Republic of Iran joined to TRACECA.