Exclavity under globalization. Selected works

Kaliningrad region of Russia and the EU enlargement

operation Agreement (PCA, 1994) are going through a difficult stage of transformation determined by the changes in the political and economic situation both in Europe and the rest of the world. The most important among these changes are the EU enlargement to the East and Russia’s recovery from the economic crisis.

7.Settling political, legal and economic issues of the Kaliningrad region emerging in connection with the EU enlargement is of special importance for the development of partnership relations between the Russian Federation and the European Union. It is a clear indication of the readiness of both parties to pass from political statements on cooperation to real practical moves. The solution of international and legal issues (such as the visa issue) is not only an indicator of the present state and prospects for cooperation between Russia and the EU, but it is also a prerequisite for creating conditions for a rapid economic development of the Kaliningrad region as one of the most important regions of such cooperation in the XXI century.

8.Settling the issues of the Kaliningrad region in connection with the EU enlargement has an international dimension and presupposes harmonization of interests of Russia (including both federal and regional ones) and the European Union (including the interests of its member-states). Consequently, the regional interests should be an integral part of both the federal (Russian) economic strategy of development and the EU strategy. Moreover, both strategies should be clearly defined and well coordinated.

It will require joint work by experts from Russia (including specialists from Kaliningrad) and the EU. At present, there is no coherent strategy relating to the role and position of the Kaliningrad region. With the aim to do this work in the interests of the Russian Federation and the European Union, it is advisable to establish a special international centre in Kaliningrad financed jointly by Russia and the EU. The centre could be established on the basis of the Baltic Centre for Advanced Studies.

9.The main constituents of the strategy of the European Union on the Kaliningrad region, as far as it can be judged from public statements of its political leadership, are as follows:

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Exclavity under globalization

The European Union considers the Kaliningrad region as an integral part of the Russian Federation; the issue of the “sovereignization” will never be considered;

As concerns politics regarding the Kaliningrad region as an entity of the Russian Federation, the European Union does not intend to make exceptions from the common rules and procedures established for the non-member-states;

At the same time the European Union is ready to consider a possibility of a mutually acceptable solution to the problems of the viability and development of the Kaliningrad region;

The European Union is interested in the further development of partnership relations with Russia and in the establishment of the Russian-European area of free trade, in the enhancement of crossborder cooperation on the basis of the “immediate neighbourhood” concept, for the benefit of the Kaliningrad region as well;

The EU is ready to extend its assistance to the Kaliningrad region within the programs of scientific and technical assistance to foreign countries implemented by the EU.

10. As for strategic approaches of Russia and the EU to the further development of cooperation, there are more coincident than mutually exclusive stands. It is conditioned by the interests of widening mutual cooperation and concerns various aspects of cooperation between Russia and the enlarging European Union.

At the same time the EU enlargement to the East raises a number of questions for Russia which are, first of all, connected with the development of the Kaliningrad region. The issues of transportation, energy, visas, customs regime, a change in the conditions of the cross-border cooperation of the Kaliningrad region with Poland and Lithuania joining the EU, etc. are among them. To solve these issues effective measures must be taken which would reflect the interests of the Russian Federation, the European Union and its member-states. In this connection the main policy is the development of the Kaliningrad region as a region of cooperation between the RF and the EU, simultaneously strengthening the domestic constituent of the regional development and redefining the region’s role in the economy of the country. The basic principles that

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Kaliningrad region of Russia and the EU enlargement

should be fixed in the Main Guidelines of the Federal Policy on the Kaliningrad region are as follows:

the sovereignty of Russia over the Kaliningrad region is beyond any doubt;

the Kaliningrad region is to become a Russian pilot region of cooperation, a link in the integration rapprochement of Russia and the enlarging EU. Russia considers the Kaliningrad region as a special area and creates special economic conditions for it;

the region will continue to function in accordance with the defence doctrine of the Russian Federation within Russia – NATO partnership in the Baltic Sea region;

the threat of economic and political isolation of the Kaliningrad region from the main land Russia must be completely eliminated, retaining the region within the Russian cultural space is of particular importance;

at the same time it is necessary to remove any possibility of isolation of the region from the territories of the neighbouring countries and to provide favourable conditions for the further development of cross-border cooperation, cultural links with the countries of the Baltic Sea region;

the standards of living in the region should be raised and should not be lower that those of Russian average.

11. The Russian Federation provides the necessary financial support to the Kaliningrad region as an exclave, namely by implementing the Federal Special Program “The Development of the Kaliningrad region for the period until the year 2010” which should be adjusted in accordance with the changing conditions of the regional development.

12. To overcome the drawbacks of the exclave position of the region and to provide for the favourable conditions for its economic activity, the Federal Law “On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad region” is to be altered to support the following:

favourable taxation conditions for the economic actors in the SEZ (investment tax loan, tax benefits for manufacturing goods for export);

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Exclavity under globalization

benefits for the banks providing credit to the projects of the Federal Special Programme “The Development of the Kaliningrad region for the period until the year 2010”;

abrogation of the quotas for the duty-free imported goods as contradictory to the principles of the free Customs zone;

the system of economic protection of the region’s interests considering a possible negative effect of the external economic processes connected with the EU enlargement and Russia’s accession to the WTO;

the guarantees for retaining the regulations of the SEZ for the period of 25 years without restrictions of the zone regulations during the period of the SEZ activities.

13. The concerns of the Federal Centre were expressed at the EU – Russia summit on November 11, 2002. At present, attention should be paid to the region’s demands that correspond to the concerns of the Russian Federation and result from the processes of cooperation development between Russia and the European Union. The Kaliningrad region which is considered both by Russia and the European Union as a special pilot region of cooperation is to become an area for testing new mechanisms of cooperation between the EU and Russia.

The Russian Federation aims to conclude an international agreement with the European Union and its member-states on the conditions for the development of the Kaliningrad region as a Russian enclave inside the EU. The agreement is to describe conditions relating to the following:

unhampered transit of people and goods between main land Russia and the Kaliningrad region;

travel of the residents of the Kaliningrad region to the neighbouring states and the EU member-countries, having entry visas issued at the common border;

visits to the Kaliningrad region by the citizens of neighbouring states and EU member-countries, having Russian visas issued at the common border;

active economic cooperation between the RF and the EU in the Kaliningrad region;

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Kaliningrad region of Russia and the EU enlargement

access of goods produced in the Kaliningrad region to the EU market;

establishing in the Kaliningrad region an international investment and financial corporation for the development of economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the European Union.

14. In order to create favourable conditions for sustainable development of the Kaliningrad region as a region of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the European Union, it is necessary to adopt a federal law on the Kaliningrad region as an exclave territory of Russia with the following provisions:

the Kaliningrad region should be granted the status of an exclave territory, where the Federal law “On the Special Economic Zone in the Kaliningrad region” is in force;

the administrative and territorial reform should be undertaken

in the region - including the enlargement of municipalities, strengthening the administrative system, enhancing the independence and financial basis of local self-government bodies;

the Federal Special Program “The Development of the Kaliningrad region for the period until the year 2010” should be managed by the Federal authorities; guarantees for the programme’s implementation should be provided for, it should be constantly adjusted to the changing conditions (the EU enlargement and Russia’s accession to the WTO);

additional expenses of the population, enterprises and institutions of the region arising as a result of the EU enlargement are to be reimbursed by the federal authorities;

a regional insurance foundation should be established with the assistance of international institutions and guarantees should be provided by the federal authorities for the insurance of investments to the SEZ;

a council on the issues of the Kaliningrad region under the President of the RF or the RF Security Council should be established.

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Exclavity under globalization

km2 (Russia-wide parameter is 9 persons per km2). 78% of the populations in the region are town-dwellers (which is 5% higher than the country's average). Yet, 46 % of the population are concentrated in Kaliningrad, which makes it an economic, socio-politi- cal and cultural dominant in the region (Table 1).

Table 1

Some demographic characteristics of the oblast population (Goskomstat data, micro census, 1995)

Presently, we can distinguish several groups of the population based on the duration of their residence in the region: members of the families of 43,7% of the respondents1, had lived in the region for more than 30 years, 38,8% - from 10 to 20 years, 8,5% - from 5 to 10 years, 7,2% - less than 5 years. When asked where there came from, around 25% of the adult population answer they have always lived in Kaliningrad; 45% answered they came from Russia, 8% from Ukraine, 7% from Belarus, 5 % from the Baltic States and 9% from Kazakhstan (3%) and other former Soviet Union republics. Yet, 12,9% expressed a more or less explicit intention to leave the area and settle in some other part in Russia, 8,7% consider leaving for another country.

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Exclavity under globalization

Asked about their feeling of belonging to a neighbourhood, commune, oblast or to Russia as a whole, respondents as in other regions expressed a stronger feeling either towards the commune (37%) or to Russia (40%). Given the small size and exclave situation Kaliningrad residents expressed a stronger than average feeling for the oblast : 16% answered that they had the strongest feeling for the oblast as compared to 8% in the Krasnoyarsky kray, 11% in Voronezh and 4% in Leningrad oblast. The strongest feeling for the oblast is expressed by people under 50, living in small towns and rural areas. The Russian identity is strong among old people living in villages, as the commune identification is strong among young and urban people, above all in Kaliningrad city. Most of the respondents do not want to leave the place and move elsewhere in Russia or to another country: more than 70% definitely do not want to move elsewhere. However, surprisingly the people being likely to move out elsewhere in Russia or abroad are older people, this fact being connected with a weaker commune and oblast identification.

As for the geo-political identification of Russia, it is more or less considered as part of the former socialist camp (36%, close to profile В and stronger for women) or a kind of its own identity (29%, close to profile A and stronger for men), not as a part of Europe (16%) or the Russian empire (15,5%) or Asia (3%). However, compared to other regions, in Kaliningrad oblast people more often identify Russia with Europe instead of defining it as a unique identity. The profile of these respondents is also close to type A, but less educated. Kaliningrad oblast people tend to acknowledge also more often that Russia belongs to the western world, but are still a minority (27%); they are mostly young people.

The image of other countries also gives information on geo-po- litical opinions. The results in Kaliningrad are similar to other Russian regions. Still there is a tendency to be a bit less positive about the Baltic countries (the average score is about 2,3 - 2,5 which is equivalent to something verbal in between verbal "rather good" and "rather bad"). Kaliningrad people are rather positive about Belarus (1,8) and a bit more sceptical about Ukraine (2,0). Among foreign countries not former parts of the USSR most

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