Joining a Prestigious Club. Cooperation With Europarties and Its Impact on Party Development in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine 2004-2015 by Maria Shagina

Author:Maria Shagina [Shagina, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783838210841
Google: doxJtAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 42461870
Publisher: Ibidem Press
Published: 2017-01-15T10:28:20+00:00

Free market economy

+

+

+

Guarantee of human, civil and political rights

+

+

+

Ethnic and minority rights

-

+

+

Freedom of expression

A

+

+

Environmentalism

0

0

0

European integration

+

+

+

Note: (+) congruent with the EPP

(−) incongruent with the EPP

(0) not mentioned

(A) ambivalent position

(i) implicitly present

The European Left (EL)

For the EL the difficulties in finding like-minded partners in the region are manifold. As a marginal force in the EP, the EL is less attractive for leftist parties than the PES. In Western Europe, the Europarty comprises member parties that have undergone ideological transformations and stand for anti-neoliberal, anti-capitalist and anti-war policies. In contrast, in Eastern Europe, the Communist parties that were either banned and ceased to exist, transformed themselves into social/social democratic forces or remained untransformed, dwelling on their anti-Western narrative. In the first case, where communist parties were banned, the space on the extreme left remained unoccupied, which constrained the EL’s room to manoeuvre. In the second case, ex-communist parties agreed to abandon Marxist-Stalinist ideology and transformed themselves into progressive pro-European political forces. In this case, the PES offered more attractive opportunities for them for European integration promotion and networking than the EL, again narrowing its options for finding a partner. Finally, the Communist parties that remained mainly untransformed continued campaigning on Soviet nostalgia and anti-Western rhetoric. Those parties are not interested in any affiliations on the European level. In this respect, the EL’s affiliation with the Moldovan Communists is exceptional. On the post-Soviet terrain, the Moldovan Communists are the only Communists who remained in power for eight long years after the collapse of Soviet Union.

Although the ideological core values of the communist parties are rooted in the Marxist-Leninist doctrine, the EL party members have distanced themselves from the classical communist positions. In the 1970s, initiated by Western Communist parties in France, Italy and Spain, the Eurocommunism as a political movement rejected Soviet-style communism, which proclaimed the class struggle and the dictatorship of proletariat. The Communist Party was no longer seen as a major force responsible for the creation of a communist society. Strong hierarchy within the party, strict subordination and the absence of disobedience were condemned as anti-democratic practices. Democratic principles such as pluralism, the multiparty system, and individual and collective rights were adopted by the Eurocommunist parties.80

As an internationalist force, the EL underlines cross-national networking and international solidarity. Despite the internationalist nature of the communist parties’ past, the EL was formed only in 2004 at the Party Congress in Rome. Until that time, the European left represented a heterogeneous group and comprised various groupings—the communist parties, including Trotskyist and traditionalist and unreformed communist parties; the green and new politics parties; and the social populist parties.81

At the EL’s Second Party Congress in Prague, the Political Theses “Building Alternatives” were developed. This document and the Europarty Statute laid down ideological principles and values. As a radical left force, the EL is anti-capitalist in its nature. The Europarty rejects “the underlying socio-economic structure of contemporary capitalism and its values and practices”.82 Justifying its radical element, the Europarty seeks to transform economic and power structures in Europe by discarding neoliberalism and globalisation and firmly standing against capitalist exploitation.

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