Policy of EU ''great power'' member states in Central Asia: common interests and goals

In the European Union Germany, France and Great Britainhave conducted the most active policy in Central Asia. Despite the differences in priorities and positions, their Central Asian policyemerged and has evolved on the basis of a set of common interests and goals in the region. The list and hierarchy of interests havevaried depending on various factors. Immediately after the collapse of the USSR the nuclear proliferation threat generated a stronginterest in Kazakhstan and urged the leading EU Member States to make Kazakhstan a priority of foreign policy. Since mid-1990s a newprimary goal was set, officially declared as to strengthen the independence of Central Asian states. In reality it meant to consolidate theWestern orientation of their international links in order to contain the "neo-imperial" policy of Russia in the FSU. Besides Kazakhstan,the new policy resulted in prioritizing Uzbekistan. An impetus was provided to develop relations with Turkmenistan. Economicassistance programmes for Central Asia were revised in favour of Tashkent and, to a lesser extent, Ashgabat, new embassies wereestablished, economic, military and other links were developed. The discourse of strengthening the independence also had an economicdimension. First, autonomy from Moscow was considered necessary to exploit natural resources of the Central Asian states for thebenefit of European countries. Raw material absolutely dominate exports to Germany, Britain and France. Kazakhstan has become amajor exporter of oil to Germany and France, in 2009 it ranked fifth and fourth, respectively. Secondly, Kazakhstan's economy that hasgrown up owing to high oil prices is of interest as an export market for European goods and investments. While Germany has been themost successful in supplying goods, the UK and, in recent years, France are more successful in investing money. The competition doesnot prevent European states from joining efforts to ensure favourable treatment for their companies. Since late 1990s the war againstAfghan drug trafficking to Europe via Central Asia was an important aspect in the regional policies of the key European countries.Projects were launched to support law enforcement agencies in the region, Interior Ministry officers were sent to the embassies tocoordinate bilateral cooperation. Britain and France contributed to make Central Asia a priority of the fight against drug trafficking atEU level. The support of law enforcement agencies in Central Asia became more urgent after September 11, 2001 in order to combat thethreat of terrorism. At the same time a new, equally important interest was identified, namely to provide support for EU states policy inAfghanistan. Germany was allowed to deploy a small unit of Air Force in the Uzbek Termez on a permanent basis. France did the samein the Tajik Dushanbe. Consequently, weak points were strengthened in the policies of the EU 'Big Three'. In particular, Tajikistanattracted much more attention. Relationship with Uzbekistan was cemented, as well.

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