Eurasian Economic Community (2000-2014)

Unit VIII

Text Focus.

Task1 . Read the text carefully looking up any new item in a dictionary or in the glossary to the text.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an economic union of states a treaty aiming for the establishment of which was signed on 29 May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on 1 January 2015. Treaties aiming for Armenia's and Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union were signed on 9 October and 23 December 2014, respectively. Armenia's accession treaty came into force on 2 January 2015. Kyrgyzstan's accession treaty came into effect on 6 August 2015. It participated in the EAEU from the day of its establishment as an acceding state.

The Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is the "Supreme Body" of the Union, consisting of the Heads of the Member States. It addresses important decisions for the Eurasian Economic Union. The Supreme Council determines the strategy, direction and prospects of integration and takes decisions aimed at achieving the goals of the union. It also approves the budget and the distribution of the contribution of the Member States.

The second level of intergovernmental institutions is represented by the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council (consisting of the Prime Ministers of member states).

The day-to-day work of the EAEU is done through the Eurasian Economic Commission (the executive body), which is a supranational body similar to European Commission. There is also a judicial body - the Court of the EAEU.

Eurasian Economic Community (2000-2014)

To promote further economic integration and more cooperation, in 2000 Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan established the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) which Uzbekistan joined in 2006 and which is considered to be the predecessor of the Eurasian Economic Union. The treaty established a common market for its member states.

In 2007, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement to create a Customs Union between the three countries.

Eurasian Economic Commission

The Eurasian Commission is the supranational governing body of the Eurasian Economic Space, which started work on 1 January 2012. Its headquarters are in Moscow. The commission monitors subordinate branches and advisory bodies.

The Eurasian Commission can take decisions on not only the customs policy of the union, but also on the macro-economy, the competition regulations, the energy policy and the fiscal policy of the Eurasian Economic Union. It has strict anti-corruption laws.

The Eurasian Economic Commission consists of two bodies: the Council and the Collegium.

Council

The council is composed of the Vice Prime Ministers of the member states. The council of the Commission oversees the integration processes in the Union, and is responsible for the overall management of the Eurasian Commission. It monitors the commission by approving the draft budget of the union, the maximum number of personnel, and the qualification requirements for the commission's employees. The council convenes once every quarter.

It also considers issues of customs cooperation, trade and development of Eurasian integration. The council regularly holds discussions on the important aspects of the EAEU and meets with business representatives of the member states.

Collegium

The collegium is composed of twelve commissioners, one of which is the Chairman of the board. Each member state provides three commissioners to the Collegium of the Eurasian Commission who carry out the operational management and oversee the everyday work of the Eurasian Commission. All twelve commissioners are appointed by the Supreme Eurasian Council for a four-year renewable term. The commissioners also receive the status of federal ministers in their respective countries.

The Collegium of the Commission is the executive body of the Commission. It convenes once every week at least, and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Eurasian Economic Union. It has a wide range of activities, including monitoring the implementation of treaties, submitting annual progress reports and making recommendations. The board of the commission also assists member states in the settlement of disputes, and carries out the draft of the union's budget. Part of its activities include being the intermediary between the departments of the commission and the heads of state of the member states. The departments enable the Board of the Eurasian Commission to make decisions not only with regard to customs policies, but in such areas as macroeconomics, regulation of economic competition, energy policy and financial policy. The Commission departments are also involved in government procurement and labour migration control.

Parliament

As of 2015, the EAEU has no directly or indirectly elected body. In 2012, the creation of a Eurasian parliament was under consideration. Russian president Vladimir Putin has upheld the idea of creating a parliament for the union.

LANGUAGE FOCUS

Task 1. Skim the text again and find all possible word combinations with the following words:

Body, member-state, union, organization, committee, council, community, goal, objective, cooperation, status, nation, policy, meeting, institution.

Task 2. Explain the following in your own words:

Customs Union, Common Economic Space, status of observer, international legal personality, consensus, normative legal acts and regulations, a standing body, subsidiary bodies, fundamentals, full-fledged international organization, authorized representative, dialogue partner status, free trade zone, decision-making body, rotating presidency, chairing nation, official working languages.

Task 3. Suggest 2-3 synonyms for the words below. Consult the dictionary:

Union, sphere, goal, treaty, state, status, member, formation, measure, direction, decision, question, policy, act, official, illegal, legal, fundamental, instruction, authority, trust, institution, principle, order, peace, partner, security, crime, support, assembly, budget.

Task 4. Give Russian equivalents of the following word-combinations from the text:

1. enhancement of integration in the economic and humanitarian spheres

2. accession to the organization

3. statutory goals and objectives

4. guided by the principle of multispeed integration

5. to define the strategy, directions and perspectives for developing integration

6. regulation of mutual trade terms

7. to envisage a common customs territory

8. to submit questions and recommendations

9. to bring legal codes into line with treaties

10. to constitute legal framework

11. interparliamentary cooperation

12. to resolve disputes between

13. to develop coordinated positions

14. to establish business ties

15. to overcome the consequences of the global crisis

16. to adopt a resolution

17. to ensure collective protection of independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty

18. to strengthen mutual confidence and good-neighbourly relations

19. to make joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace

20. to discuss a strategy for multilateral cooperation and priority directions

21. to adopt annual budget

22. to circulate smth among member states for further consideration

Task 1. Make up 6 sentences of your own with the Complex Subject following the model. These structures can be used with a number of verbs (is expected to, is understood to, is believed to, is said to, is reputed to, is alleged to, seems to, happens, is (un)likely to).

Model 1. The State Duma is reported to discuss the anti-corruption law. (Indefinite)

Model 2. The State Duma is reported to be discussing the anti-corruption law. (Continuous)

Model 3. The State Duma is reported to have discussed the anti-corruption law. (Perfect)

Model 4. The State Duma is reported to have been discussing the anti-corruption law. (Perfect Continuous)

Model 5. The anti-corruption law is reported to be discussed in the State Duma. (Passive)

Model 6. The anti-corruption law is reported to have been discussed in the State Duma. (Perfect Passive)

SPEECH FOCUS

Communique is an official communication or announcement, especially to the press or public aiming to address a particular problem or issue. Two or more than two organizations or governments publicize their decisions or special bi-lateral or joint issue in the form of the communique.

Communique consists of two parts (Introduction and Body) and signature. - The Introduction contains the information about the organizations or authorities who publish the communique, the purpose of the communique and the time. - The Body may be structured as a coherent text or as a succession of clauses. Each clause, then, is numbered (1-…).

The language of communique is highly clicheed. Here are some typical phrases: 1. Today the Presidents of … met at the BRICS summit in Deli, to advance the … 2. At our meeting today… 3. We welcome the adoption… 4. We fully support the negotiations… 5. We strongly condemn terrorism… 6. In response to the call by the government of … 7. We express our concerns about … 8. We express / our deep appreciation… 9. We fully agree with the statements… 10. We recognize the need/ the importance… 11. We reaffirm our determination… 12. We reiterate our commitment to the… 13. We remain committed to our economic cooperation… All the clauses end with dot. Each clause may contain more than one sentence.

Task 1.Give examples to illustrate the following statements and comment on them:

1) The most powerful force on this planet is human cooperation - a force for construction and destruction. (Jonathan Haidt)

2) We have actively sought and are actively seeking to make the United Nations an effective instrument of international cooperation. (Dean Acheson)

CASE FOCUS

Watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOdcQ3emyzM and answer the following questions:

1. Has the world changed after the creation of such organizations as BRICs, EAEU, CSTO, SCO and how?

2. What events do you think triggered the appearance of international organizations such as BRICs, EAEU, CSTO, SCO and why?

3. Which of these organizations do you think might have affected the way Russia is perceived in the world? Or is Russia pursuing other goals by membership in these organizations? Identify the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy in connection with them. Substantiate your answer.

4. Can China be considered a potential hegemon of the 21^st century? Give reasons.

5. Do you believe that membership in such international institutions as BRICs, EAEU, CSTO, SCO allows Russia to share the responsibility of global governance?

6. Is the redistribution of influence of different countries on the global arena is really taking place?

7. How successful do you think these institutions are in dealing with the global financial and economic crisis? What if these organizations have never been created?

8. Consider the strong and weak points of these organizations taking BRICs as an example.

9. Define the main aim of BRICS on the world global arena and its reliability.

10. Do you consider BRICs, EAEU, CSTO and SCO to be the best platform for the management of regional and global affairs?

11. How do you account for the enormous potential of BRICS economy?

12. Give your overview of the development of BRICs in 45 years.

PROJECT FOCUS