Stärkere Verbindungen nach Zentralasien knüpfen

Neil J. Melvin, Forscher beim Centre for European Policy Studies, betont, dass die Strategie für Zentralasien, die die deutsche Ratspräsidentschaft derzeit ausarbeitet, auf die Stärkung der politischen, sozialen und ökonomischen Umwälzungen in der Region ausgerichtet sein muss, in einer Zeit in der die Region sich in einer entscheidenden Entwicklungsphase befindet.

The author says that the EU must be different from other international actors, such as China and Russia, who are focused exclusively on maintaining the status quo in the region. Melvin believes that the rise of these international actors poses a serious threat to the EU’s democracy promotion agenda of the 90s, and this challenge „demands an urgent and far-reaching rethink of the approach the Union takes to external relations“.

The EU can differentiate itself from the other external actors in the region by setting out „a positive vision of a future Central Asia to be achieved through modernisation and reform“. Indeed, to remain a serious global actor, the author argues that the EU will have to find ways „to reconcile the imperative of engaging in difficult regions beyond the immediate European neighbourhood while also remaining true to the values of the Union“.

Melvin says that Central Asia has come to a crossroads in its post-Soviet development and that this gives the EU an opportunity to „play a significant role in moving the region, or at a minimum parts of the region, away from authoritarian rule and towards more positive forms of political and economic development“. 

The author calls on the German Presidency to maintain its focus on the region and believes the Strategy document on Central Asia will be an important indication of the future direction of EU policy in other difficult parts of the world.

He concludes by stressing that the Strategy must be underpinned „by a clear, consistent and long-term political approach to the region that is in accordance with European values“.