A “Russian standard” or a “eurostandard.”

A really interesting preview of what the Czech presidency might bring.

Is the EU really going to change its policy vis a vis Russia and give the six neighbouring countries a decent deal? 

A Czech Presidency followed by a Swedish one certainly might make it happen.

The article starts:

You can't help but notice it. Whenever people in the post-Soviet region want to emphasize a product's quality, craftsmanship, reliability or luxuriousness they affix it with the prefix "euro." A newly reconstructed flat where everything is in good working order is said to have gone through a "euroremont" (read: a European-style redesign). A decent product is graced with the epithet "eurostandard." And when a politician wants to let it be known that he really does want to change things for the better, he describes his efforts as a "euroreform."

In the eyes of Eastern Europeans, the European Union is a standard measure for quality – the quality of products, of democracy, of housing, of lifestyles. Not America or Japan, but Europe. Millions of Ukrainians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis and Belarusians dream of one day living as people do in the EU. Those who can afford it actually act on those dreams. Cities like Berlin, Vienna, Karlovy Vary and Nice are full of rich Eastern Europeans who have used the millions they made in the east to move west and live the "eurolife."

It is entirely normal to find EU flags fluttering in front of government buildings in Chisinau, Tbilisi or Kiev. Only in Minsk, where Belarus' authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka holds court, is there a lack of EU flags, but even here the arrival of the EU standard may only be a matter of time.

Certainly, when you consider the difference between what Georgia can expect compared with what South Ossetia can expect, I know which way I would vote.  But then no one is voting, and information is still not freely available.

Pity Ukraine where the choice "which way" goes straight through the middle of the country.

However, as this article points out, is there really a "third way" for the countries in the border lands?  Or do the countries eventually have to jump one way or the other?