AN authoritative paper issued earlier this month by The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has suggested that European Union (EU) should shed apprehensions Eurasian Customs Union (ECU) and build bridges with it.

As put by the Paper captioned ‘The Eurasian Customs Union: Friend or Foe of the EU?', “ The EU must overcome its fears and misperceptions. For some EU member States, the customs union is Moscow's new attempt to rebuild its empire. But this is not just a political project; the union has a practical side. The EU must accept that members were not coerced to join.”

The Paper has recommended that EU should separate Ukraine from its relations with the customs union and reassess its policy toward the post-Soviet space.

It says: “ If the EU separated its geopolitical fear of losing Ukraine to Russia from its relations with the customs union, tensions between Brussels and Moscow could ease. More broadly, the EU must realize that the European model may not apply to the entire post-Soviet space.”

ECU comprises three members of Commonwealth of Independent States - Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Launched in January 2010m ECU is working towards eliminating trade and non-trade barriers within the union and to arrive at a common external tariff.

ECU, the world's largest customs union by territory, has a chance of becoming more than just a paper tiger, the Paper says.