The Russian Federation in European Union Programmes

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the European Union has been supporting socio-economic transformations in the former Soviet Union states, including the Russian Federation. Initially, this assistance was provided in the framework of the TACIS Programme, offering long-term, non-repayable aid. In 1991–2006 Russia received EUR 2.7bn for the restructuring of the state enterprise sector, establishment of private companies, state administration reform, telecommunications, nuclear safety and security and environmental protection. Despite severe criticism directed at the implemented programme, emphasising its unclear objectives, lack of awareness of the conditions in which the projects were executed, prolonged completion periods for some projects and lack of evaluation, the European Union continued its financial assistance to Russia since 2007 as part of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. The funds available for the programme were earmarked to support political, economic and social reforms, and regional and local development through programmes implemented in two time perspectives: 2007–2013 and 2014–2020. Evaluation of the programmes implemented in 2007–2013 revealed numerous shortcomings in project execution. For example, projects implemented as part of the Arctic Circle-Russia Programme were criticised for weak objectives and only partial completion of some undertakings. Another programme – Karelia–Russia failed to create a joint vision of the region and develop joint investment plans.  The issues indicated as barriers to cooperation between the Russian Federation and Finland included: complicated administrative procedures in Russia and poor command of the English language on the Russian side. No evaluation report was prepared on completion of the South-East Finland–Russia Programme and Lithuania–Poland–Russia Programme. Furthermore, the objectives of the Estonia–Latvia–Russia Programme were not accomplished.  Nevertheless, the European Union decided to continue the assistance to the Russian Federation in 2014–2020 as part of the following programmes: Arctic Circle–Russia, Karelia–Russia and South-East Finland–Russia and to launch four new programmes: Estonia–Russia, Latvia–Russia, Poland–Russia and Lithuania–Russia.