ON THE INTERACTION OF EURO PARTIES WITH PARTIES FROM THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES. PART 4

The article analyzes the cooperation of one of the leading pan–European political organizations – the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) – with its partners in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova). Since 2014, European conservatives and reformists have sought to establish partnerships with the conservative parties of these countries and even accepted them into their ranks as full members. The profiles of these organizations and their leaders, the results of participation in national parliamentary, presidential and local elections, interaction with other political forces of their countries on the formation of electoral and ruling coalitions were studied. The main provisions of their program documents, which reflect the pro-European choice, as well as press releases and statements by the leaders of the AECR concerning the situation in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership, are given. It is shown that the AECR actively supported this program and its partners, regardless of their electoral results. It was noted that in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova, local AECR member parties initially achieved good results in elections, including in national parliaments, but in recent years some of them have found themselves on the political periphery. The reasons for this phenomenon vary from country to country. Nevertheless, European conservatives and reformists are confident that as the situation stabilizes, the issues of strengthening sovereignty and preserving traditional values will return to the political agenda and become in demand again.