ABSTRACT
Central Asia has long been outside of the European Union’s (EU) main sphere of interest, tucked away in the outskirts of Europe’s eastern periphery. This lack of interest was reflected in the relatively low level of EU engagement with 1990s post-Soviet Central Asia. Moreover, European aid provided to the five Central Asian states has been considerably lower than the means given by the EU to the other countries of the former Soviet bloc. In 2001 the Union even intended to cut down its assistance to Central Asia. Then the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 took place and the USA launched a large-scale military operation in neighbouring Afghanistan. As these events suddenly put the region in the spotlight and revealed its geostrategic importance, they provided an initial trigger for increased European interest in this peripheral zone.
