European solidarity

In 2000, Petro Poroshenko left the SDPU (o) Victor Medvedchuk , from whom he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 1998. The reason for the conflict, according to Poroshenko, was the unwillingness of the SDPU (o) to return the money that they spent on the election campaign in the majority district in the Vinnitsa region ^{[13] [14]} . After that, he created an independent center-left faction “Solidarity” in parliament, consisting of 20 deputies from three parties ^{[15] [16]} .

In July 2000, five political parties supporting Ukraine, supported by President Leonid Kuchma , namely the Solidarity Party of Ukraine (leader Petro Poroshenko), the Regional Renaissance Party, the Labor Party, the All-Ukrainian Party of Pensioners (leader Gen. Gennady Samofalov, retired), and the party “For beautiful Ukraine ”(leader - Leonid Chernovetsky ) decided to unite. The new structure was called the “Party of Regional Solidarity of Labor Solidarity of Ukraine” ^[17] , which was again renamed at the next congress in March 2001, called the Party of Regions (at about the same time the Ministry of Justice registered “Solidarity” ^[15] ) . Since the organization was considered the “alliance of Poroshenko and the Donetsk affiliates”, it was assumed that Poroshenko would head it, however, the party congress unexpectedly elected the head of the tax service of Ukraine Mykola Azarov , who emphasized that, despite the absence of ideological differences with Poroshenko, He, unlike Poroshenko, more closely links his participation in politics with President Kuchma. For 6 months, Poroshenko remained Deputy Azarov. In November 2001, members of the Solidarity Party of Ukraine left the Party of Regions, which borrowed their ideology and program ^{[18] [19]} .

Solidarity Party

After re-registration, the first chairman of the reanimated Solidarity party was Mikhail Antonyuk. Petro Poroshenko headed it on November 15, 2001 ^[20] .

In December 2001, the party joined the rivals of the "regionals" - Viktor Yushchenko 's Our Ukraine electoral bloc, founded by ten parties and 118 social movements. Solidarity, together with the NRU , PRP , UNR, received the status of “block-forming”, which gave them advantages in the process of forming the election list in those elections, the Solidarity party held six deputies in the parliament: five on the list, Poroshenko won in majority district No. 112 in Vinnytsia region ^[13] ). During the 2002 elections, Petro Poroshenko headed the bloc’s election headquarters. Later, the politician was the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, the head of the NBU Council and the Minister for Foreign Affairs under the President Viktor Yushchenko and the Minister of Economic Development in the Government of Viktor Yanukovych ^{[15] [13]} .

The new party leadership shortly afterwards decided to merge Yulia Tymoshenko with the " Fatherland " ^[21] , in this regard, the Solidarity party officially ceased to exist and was liquidated by a decision of the Kiev District Administrative Court. The court decision came into force in November 2013, just a few days before the start of the Euromaidan ^[22] .

Petro Poroshenko Bloc

After the dissolution of the parliament in 2014, Solidarity was recreated on the basis of the National Alliance of Freedom and Ukrainian Patriotism (abbr. NASTUP) ^[22] . On August 27, Yury Lutsenko was elected chairman of the party ^[23] . On the same day, the party, at the initiative of Lutsenko, was renamed the “ Petro Poroshenko Bloc ” ^[24] . Permission to use his name was given by President Petro Poroshenko himself, who arrived at the congress ^[25] .

On September 2, the leader of the “ UDAR ” faction in the Verkhovna Rada, Vitaliy Kovalchuk, announced his party’s intention to participate in early parliamentary elections together with the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, which was declared in the memorandum of unity signed between Vitaliy Klichko and Petro Poroshenko on March 29 ^[26] . The block list of Petro Poroshenko was headed by the head of the UDAR party - Vitaliy Klitschko ^[6] .

In the 2014 parliamentary elections, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc proposed the head of the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine 62nd place on his list. This step was taken in connection with the cooperation agreement signed between the Transcarpathian Hungarian Culture Society (name of the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine outside the elections) and the candidate for president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, signed in May 1, 2014, in which the latter, in particular, promised to provide parliamentary representation of Transcarpathian Hungarians, and OVKZ / KMKSZ, in response, announced its support for the presidency of Ukraine ^[27] .

Following the election results, the party took second place, but in the end its faction became the largest (131 deputies) due to the accession of a number of majority deputies (the party itself hoped to hold at least 226 people in parliament ^[28] ). The European Ukraine coalition was formed in parliament (which also included the Popular Front , Self-Help , the Oleg Lyashko Radical Party and the Fatherland ^[29] ). In February 2016, the coalition broke up due to the release of "Fatherland", "RPL" and "Self-help", but was reformatted with the help of the BPP and the NF, which, for the adoption of laws due to lack of votes, situationally assisted non-factional deputies, groups and factions ^{[30 ] [31]} . officially, the coalition broke up in May 2019 after the release of the Popular Front, which unsuccessfully tried to deprive the new president Vladimir Zelensky of the opportunity to dissolve parliament and call early elections. ^[32]

On January 24, 2015, the party was renamed the Solidarity Block of Petro Poroshenko ^[12] .

On August 28, 2015, the political parties Petro Poroshenko's Solidarity Bloc and the Ukrainian Democratic Reform Alliance (BLOW) Vitali Klitschko teamed up to participate in the 2015 regional elections . The new party chairman was elected Vitali Klitschko ^[8] .

In these elections, the BPP became the leader, having held 19.84% of the deputies in local authorities (immediately after it, the "Fatherland" - 18.13%, other parties received significantly fewer mandates) ^[33] .

On March 26, 2016, Vitaliy Klitschko, elected by the mayor of Kiev, wrote a letter of resignation from the post of party leader, as the new law on civil service forbade officials to combine work for the state with party activities ^[34] . The statement of the politician was to be considered by the political council of the party, the decision of which was to be taken by the congress. However, the party congress has not been held since that time ^[35] .

In the fall of 2018, Vitali Klitschko announced the participation of the BLOW in the upcoming parliamentary elections, which he once again confirmed in May 2019 ^[36] . The unresolved issue was the format and possible allies ^[37] .

European Solidarity

On May 24, 2019 at a closed congress, rebranding was carried out, the name of the party was changed to “European Solidarity” (abbreviated EU). Poroshenko emphasized the participation in the political force of local leaders, volunteers and young politicians ^[38] . The party’s partner was the public association “Solidarnaya on the Right of the Bulk”, which, according to the signed memorandum, will be responsible for the primaries during the nomination of candidates for deputies ^[39] .

The defeat of Petro Poroshenko in the presidential election pulled down and the ratings of his party. According to a poll by the rating sociological group Poroshenko, the party leads the party’s anti-rating: under no circumstances would 51.9% of Ukrainian voters support it (in December 2017, 23% would not support the BPP under any circumstances ^[13] ). According to a survey of the Ukrainian Institute of Social Research. Yaremenko, the rating of the party “ Servant of the People ” is 39.9%, “ Opposition Platform - For Life ” - 11%, and “European Solidarity” and “Fatherland” of Yulia Tymoshenko - less than 10% ^[40] .

On May 31, at a congress held in the Mystetsky Arsenal , the majority of the votes cast were for Petro Poroshenko, who replaced Vitali Klitschko at the post. A new political force leadership was also chosen ^{[41] [42]} :

• 26 people entered the central political council: Vladimir Aryev , Stepan Barna , Yuri Biryukov, Dinara Gabibulaeva, Vitaliy Gaydukevich , Irina Gerashchenko , Arthur Gerasimov , Mikhail Dovbenko, Virginia Dronova, Gennady Zubko, Maria Ionova, Ruslan Knyazevich , Ivanina Kushnirko Melnichuk, Arthur Pereverzev, Alexander Pogrebinsky, Peter Poroshenko, Tatyana Rychkova , Maxim Savrasov, Oleg Sinyutka, Victor Taran, Elena Ursulenko, Sofia Fedina, Irina Friz , Nina Yuzhanina .
• the party’s presidium includes Irina Gerashchenko, Maria Ionova, Yuriy Biryukov, Sergey Taran, Vitaliy Gaidukevich, Oleg Sinyutka, Maxim Savrasov and Petro Poroshenko.

On July 21, 2019, Ukraine hosted the elections of the Supreme Rada through a mixed electoral system with majority (single-mandate) constituencies and party lists. A barrier has been established for parties - 5% of the vote, and according to its results the European Solidarity party received 8.18% (1196256 votes), thus it will take 25 seats in the Verkhovna Rada.

• Official website (Ukrainian) (Russian)