Union of Russia and Belarus

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The Union of Russia and Belarus (Russian: Союз России и Беларуси, also called the Belarusian-Russian Union State) is a supranational entity comprising Russia and Belarus that was initiated by the latter's president, Alexander Lukashenko.

1 Creation
2 Institutions and legal framework
3 Developments
4 Common currency
5 See also
6 External links

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Creation

Originally formed on April 2 1996 under the name Community of Russia and Belarus, the basis of the union was strengthened on both April 3 1997 (when its name was changed to its present form) and on December 25 1998, with the signature of several agreements intending to provide greater political, economic, and social integration. In reality, none of this took place.

The Treaty on a Union of Belarus and Russia was signed on December 8, 1999. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Slobodan Milošević's rule joined the union that year as an observing member.

The Union of Russia and Belarus seeks to harmonise the political and economic differences between its two members, in particular by standardising taxes, tariffs, and the monetary system. In reality, very little of that ever was implemented.

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Institutions and legal framework

The Treaty on the Formation of a Union State has established the following institutions:

A Supreme State Council, made up of the Presidents, Prime Ministers, and the heads of both chambers of the Parliaments of both countries.
A Council of Ministers
A Permanent Committee
A bicameral Union Parliament, comprised of an elected House of Representatives which contains 75 deputies from Russia and 28 from Belarus, and a House of the Union with an equal number of deputies from each nation, appointed by the executive branch.
A Supreme Court of Justice
An Accounting Chamber, controlling the implementation of the budget.

Pavel Borodin is the current state secretary of the Union (who is suspected of fraud, embezzlement and other financial crimes, and was arrested in the United States [1]). He was first appointed by the Supreme State Council on January 26, 2000 for a four-year term. In 2004, his term was renewed for another four years.

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Developments

Both member states seem to have lost their initial enthusiasm for the union, with first Russia, then Belarus, restoring customs controls along their common border in 2001, effectively ending the customs union. Also, plans had been set in motion to implement a common currency across the union, but these have been postponed several times. Finally, a long-awaited agreement on a draft constitution could be put to a vote in both countries in 2006. According to Belarus' President Lukashenko, the Russian government seeks to model the union on the European Union, while Belarus would like it to resemble the former Soviet Union.

Belarus and Russia had been collecting the VAT in the country of origin, but from January 1, 2005 VAT is collected in the country of destination (just like in most other independent countries in the world). This change gave rise to a considerable degree of confusion and has disrupted many trade operations between Belarus and Russia.

On February 10, 2005 almost all (an estimated 85%-90%) private enterpreneurs in Belarus staged a one-day warning strike, protesting the new value added tax (VAT) scheme between the two countries and Lukashenka's economic policies.

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Common currency

Initially, Lukashenka promised to introduce a common currency on January 1, 2004. The currency was not introduced, and the plan was postponed by one year. On January 1, 2005 the "union state" again failed to introduce common currency, and it was again postponed by one year. In 2006 the introduction of the common currency was again postponed. During a press-conference in Minsk on February 2, 2006, Piotr Prokopovich, chief of the National Bank of Belarus, announced that "common currrency might be introduced in 2008."

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