Ukraine: Between Two Empires

With its Association Agreement with the E.U. effectively suspended due to concerns about the “stark deterioration of democracy and the rule of law” after the imprisonments of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2011 and Yurly Lutsenko in 2012, Ukraine was vacillating between creating a free-trade zone with the E.U. or a customs union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Given the European Neighborhood Policy of the E.U. applicable to independent states bordering the E.U., a free-trade zone with the E.U. could be the first step on the road to further economic and even political integration, including perhaps statehood. However, that would mean further democratic reforms that would certainly not be required to join a customs union that includes Belarus. As a precondition to an informed decision, distinguishing between statehood in the E.U. and joining a customs union is vital to the Ukraine. Ideologically-driven jargon can create confusion regarding the qualitative difference.

Ukraine, pictured here in orange, would be a large state in the E.U., and would push the border significantly eastward yet still in Europe.     source" wikipedia

The full essay is in Essays on the E.U. Political Economy, available at Amazon.

The African Customs Unions and the E.U.: On Currencies

The East African Community (EAC) is Africa’s “most advanced regional trade bloc,” according to the Wall Street Journal in 2011.[1] The EAC was already a customs union that guaranteed the movement of goods and the right to work across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. The parliaments were working at the time on synchronizing immigration and tariff laws. “We want to develop this corridor vigorously and collectively,” Mugo Kibati, director of a Kenyan government program, said.[2] But the EAC and other trading blocs in Africa, such as the Southern African Development Community, were “backing away from one prominent aspect of Europe’s economic union: a common currency.”[3] Aside from any vague similarities that the fiscal differences between Greece and Germany may have to those between Zimbabwe and South Africa, the currency question itself is out of place for a NAFTA-like trade agreement.

The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.

1. Patrick McGroarty, “Africa’s Goal: EuropeWithout the Currency,” The Wall Street Journal, November 21, 2011.
2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.