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357223
Fri, 02/13/2015 - 11:50
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EU to consider cooperation opportunities with post-Soviet trade bloc - Juncker

BRUSSELS, February 13. /TASS/. The European Commission is set to consider opportunities for European Union’s cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a post-Soviet trade bloc comprising Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said. Speaking at a news conference in Brussels after an extraordinary EU summit, Juncker said the European Commission would be slowly but determinedly approaching EU’s cooperation with the EEU and would soon begin studying the details of the issue. The EEU is a new integration association, which started functioning from January 1, 2015 instead of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC). The former officially ceased to exist on October 10, 2014. Kyrgyzstan is expected to join the EEU in May this year. The Treaty on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014 in Astana. The agreement is the basic document defining the accords between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan for creating the Eurasian Economic Union for the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce and conducting coordinated, agreed or common policies in key sectors of the economy, such as energy, industry, agriculture and transport. The agreement stipulates the transition of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to the next stage of integration after the Customs Union and the common economic space. The document says that the union is open for accession by any state sharing the union’s goals and principles on the terms agreed by the member countries. Juncker’s statement on the European Union’s cooperation with the EEU comes amid Western sanctions imposed against Russia over Moscow’s stance in regard to the developments in neighboring Ukraine. The United States, the European Union and some other Western countries imposed sanctions against Moscow over its stance on the Ukraine crisis. The sanctions apply to certain government officials and whole sectors of the Russian economy. As its counter-measure, Moscow imposed an embargo on food imports from the countries that had slapped sanctions against it. Two days ago Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Europe was losing $25 billion from its sanctions imposed against Russia, which in turn was osing $41 billion, Early this week Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said that he estimated Europe’s losses from its sanctions against Russia at 21 billion euros. "The sanctions have caused damage to everyone. By now, the European Union has lost 21 billion euros from a contraction in its exports," the minister said. Read more

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