The EU and Uzbekistan: Where to go from here?
The EU and Uzbekistan: Where to go from here?

Author(s): Michael Hall
Subject(s): Environmental and Energy policy, Government/Political systems, Security and defense, Comparative politics
Published by: CEPS Centre for European Policy Studies
Keywords: EU; Uzbekistan; Security; Energy; Government;
Summary/Abstract: In 2005, following the suppression of the Andijon uprising, the European Union, alone among world powers, took a necessary and principled stance towards the regime of Uzbekistan’s President Islom Karimov. A visa ban was imposed on officials believed to be involved in the indiscriminate killing of mostly unarmed civilians, an embargo was placed on arms shipments to Uzbekistan and high-level bilateral relations were frozen. Now, almost two years later, the strain in relations appears to be taking its toll on both sides. The Uzbek government has made tentative overtures to the EU, and there are indications that some in the EU are willing to accept such overtures at face value in the rush to normalise relations, often citing security and energy concerns, as well as ‘progress’ in the sphere of human rights.

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