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Abstract
Russia is usually considered as being obstructive to European integration in the EU's Eastern neighbourhood, while the EU is portrayed as being the key promoter of convergence with EU rules. Thus, strong economic dependence on Russia and EU active leverage should account for cross-policy variation in convergence with EU rules. By comparing convergence in Ukraine's telecommunications and food safety regulations, I show that active leverage exerted by Western European multinationals rather than by the EU accounts for divergent outcomes. Further, Russia's ‘bad guy’ image does not hold if we stop treating Russia as a unitary actor but distinguish between passive and active leverage exerted by Russian government policies, the Russian market and Russian multinationals investing in the Eastern neighbourhood countries on domestic policy choices.
Notes
I thank Esther Ademmer, Tanja A. Börzel, and Milada A. Vachudova as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. The usual disclaimer applies. Preparation of this essay was facilitated by the European University Institute in Florence and the Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) ‘The Transformative Power of Europe’, hosted at the Freie Universität Berlin and funded by the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft).
1 See also Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
2 This starting point for the analysis was chosen because Ukraine and the EU formally signed their Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), the first official agreement between both parties to envisage the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to the EU acquis, in 1994.
3 See Börzel and Langbein, in this collection.
4 Ukraine was the first country among the Eastern neighbours to sign a PCA with the EU as early as 1994. Furthermore, the country was among the first ones to negotiate an Action Plan with the EU in early 2005 in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the first among the Eastern neighbours to negotiate a Deep Free Trade Agreement with the EU in 2008.
5 See also Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
6 For a similar observation see Vahtra (Citation2007).
7 See Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection; see also Langbein and Wolczuk (Citation2012).
8 In the PCA between the EU and Ukraine both parties agreed to cooperate with regard to the creation ‘of an appropriate regulatory basis for the provision of telecommunicational … services …’ (PCA Citation1998, Article 66). EU law stipulated the separation of ownership and regulation (Thatcher Citation2004).
9 The EU assistance programmes in the field of food safety only focused on achieving compliance with the WTO SPS Agreement.
10 See also Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
11 See Thatcher (Citation2004) and European Communities (Citation1997).
12 UMC was a joint venture between the incumbent operator Ukrtelekom, which held 51% of the shares, Tele Denmark Mobil (Denmark), Deutsche Telekom (Germany) and KPN (the Netherlands), which held 16% of shares each.
13 Author's interview with Ukrainian expert (telecommunications), 21 September 2009, Kyiv.
14 GSMA Europe is the biggest regulatory network of European mobile operators which represents around 147 operators serving around 558 million subscribers.
15 Author's interview with Ukrainian mobile operator, 19 November 2008, Kyiv and with Ukrainian expert (telecommunications), 21 September 2009, Kyiv.
16 Proekt zakonu pro telekommunikatsii, 9 August 2002, available at: http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb_n/webproc4_1?id = &pf3511 = 12876, accessed 10 September 2011.
17 Author's interview with European investor (telecommunications), 20 October 2008, Kyiv.
18 Author's interviews with various Ukrainian and European experts and operators (telecommunications), 20 October 2008, 20 September 2009 and 16 October 2009.
19 Author's interview with Ukrainian expert (telecommunications), 21 September 2009, Kyiv.
20 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) common standard in the mobile networks industry that allows operators to offer a wider range of services, such as video calling and high-speed internet connections.
21 Author's interviews with various Ukrainian telecommunications experts, 20 November 2008, 21 September 2009 and 16 October 2009, Kyiv.
22 Zerkalo Nedeli, 43, 518, 23–29 October 2004.
23 See also Langbein and Wolczuk (Citation2012).
24 Reuters, 21 October 2009.
25 On 11 March 2011, the Ukrainian government sold 92% of Ukrtelekom's shares to the European Privatization and Investment Corporation (EPIC) based in Austria. At the time of writing it is not known whether EPIC's management acted on behalf of Ukrainian oligarchs or Russian or Turkish investors (Olearchuk Citation2011). EPIC denies these rumours (Shamota Citation2011).
26 Membership in the ERG is limited to EU member states, but ‘the Group may invite other experts and observers to attend its meetings’ (European Commission Citation2002a, Article 5). This would thus also allow the body to invite regulators from neighbouring countries as observers.
27 See also ‘Demand for Mobile Services Rises as Market Saturates’, Kyivpost, 21 February 2008. Market penetration over 100% means that subscribers use more than one operator.
28 Author's interview with various Ukrainian telecommunications experts, 20 September 2008 and 20 November 2009, Kyiv.
29 But see also Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
30 HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. It forms a preventive food control system to address physical, chemical and biological hazards at different points of the food supply chain. In 1993, the EU mandated the application of HACCP principles for the first time (European Council Citation1993).
31 The ‘GOST standard’ is an acronym for ‘Gossudarstvenny standart’ which means state standard.
32 Author's interviews with employees of Western European dairy company operating in Ukraine, 6 November 2008; Ukrainian food safety expert, Western donor organisation, 23 September 2008; and European food safety expert, 26 September 2008, Kyiv.
33 Author's interviews with employees of Western European dairy company operating in Ukraine, 6 November 2008; and Ukrainian food safety expert, Western donor organisation, 26 September 2008, Kyiv.
34 Author's interview with Ukrainian food safety expert, Western donor organisation, 26 September 2008, Kyiv.
35 Author's interviews with European food safety expert, 15 February 2008, and employees of Ukrainian dairy company, 16 October 2008, Kyiv.
36 Author's interview with Ukrainian food safety expert, Western donor organisation, 14 October 2009, Kyiv. See also Kuksa (Citation2006).
37 Author's interviews with European food safety experts, 15 February and 15 October 2008, Kyiv.
38 The FVO is in charge of monitoring compliance with EU food safety regulations within the European Union and in third countries exporting to the EU.
39 Author's interview with several European experts (food safety), 15 February and 23 September 2008, Kyiv.
40 ProUA, 26 September 2008.
41 Food and Veterinary Authority (FVO), Third country list of establishments, list per section, available at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sanco/traces/output/non_eu_listsPerActivity_en.htm#, accessed 26 June 2012.
42 Ukraine had applied for WTO membership as early as 1993, but due to the economic decline that hit the country throughout the 1990s, WTO accession and trade liberalisation took a back seat among the priorities of the Ukrainian government. When Ukraine's economy started to grow in 2000, WTO accession was put back on the political agenda (Garcia Citation2006). Author's interviews with EU official, DG Relex, 21 November 2008, and Ukrainian food safety expert, 14 October 2009, Kyiv.
43 Author's interview with EU official (DG Relex), 21 November 2008, Kyiv.
44 The Law of Ukraine ‘On the Quality and Safety of Food Products and Food Raw Materials’, No. 2809-IV, 6 September 2005.
45 Author's interview with state official, Central Veterinary Agency of Ukraine, 2 October 2008, Kyiv.
46 Author's interview with European food safety expert advising the Ukrainian government, 14 November 2008, Kyiv.
47 See IFC (Citation2009).
48 Gawrich et al., (Citation2010); but see Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
49 See also Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
50 See also Dimitrova and Dragneva (Citation2009).
51 See also Ademmer and Börzel, in this collection.
52 See also Vahtra (Citation2007).