ArmInfoThe Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is classified as a regulated integration association, granting member states the right to impose temporary restrictions if they are justified by issues of energy, food, or other economic security.
Such steps do not automatically indicate a crisis in the integration project. Vahe Davtyan, PHD in Political Sciences, Professor, and Senior Researcher in the Caucasus Studies Sector at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, made this statement in response to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks that if the restrictions imposed on Armenia are not lifted, it will be "the beginning of the end for the EAEU."
According to an Armenian expert, Nikol Pashinyan's statement that restrictions on Armenian exports could mark "the beginning of the end of the EAEU" is of interest primarily from a theoretical perspective. Davtyan believes that this statement demonstrates a common mistake: interpreting Eurasian integration through the prism of a liberal common market model, whereas the EAEU was initially conceived as a model of regulated integration, where free movement of goods is combined with the preservation of a significant degree of government regulation.
According to him, such an approach is characteristic of theories that view integration primarily as a political process. Davtyan recalled that neofunctionalism (Ernst Haas) assumes a gradual deepening of integration through the spillover effect, while intergovernmentalism (Stanley Hoffman, Andrew Moravcsik) emphasizes the decisive role of nation states and political interests in integration decision-making.
He noted that in both cases, economic integration is a function of political will, not an autonomous market mechanism. " "The EAEU belongs to the category of regulated integration associations. This means that member states retain the right to introduce temporary restrictions if they are necessitated by issues of energy, food, or other economic security. Such a practice is not an exception and does not automatically indicate a crisis in the integration project. A characteristic example is Kazakhstan, which has repeatedly extended bans on the export of certain types of petroleum products, including supplies to EAEU member states, and recently decided to maintain these restrictions until May 22, 2027. Consequently, existing export restrictions should be analyzed not as a sign of the 'paralysis' of the EAEU, but as a manifestation of the specific nature of regulated integration," he summarized," he concluded.
