The party started in 2000 as a parliamentary faction called "Solidarity",[5] set up byPetro Poroshenko, until then a member of theSocial Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) faction.[20][21]Taras Kuzio claims that this happened with the help of then PresidentKuchma, who allegedly wanted to limit the influence of the SDPU(u).[20] Many deputieselected in 1998 for thePeasant Party of Ukraine andHromada joined the new parliamentary faction.[20][22] Based on his parliamentary faction Poroshenko eventually established theParty of Ukraine's Solidarity.[22][23] In 2000 that party merged into what would become theParty of Regions (later to become for a period the biggest party of Ukraine[24]) and Poroshenko became a Party of Regions deputy.[22]
In 2001, Poroshenko expressed interest in the creation of theOur Ukraine Bloc.[22] However, in order to receive quote in Our Ukraine he had to join the bloc with his whole party.[22][25] The Party of Ukraine's Solidarity failed to break away from the Party of Regions, therefore Poroshenko decided to create a newphantom party with a similar name, the party "Solidarity".[22] At the2002 parliamentary elections Solidarity was able to join Our Ukraine.[26] Top party members who received a parliamentary mandate on party list of the Our Ukraine electoral bloc in 2002 wereVolodymyr Plyutynsky,Volodymyr Makeyenko,Eduard Matviychuk,Anatoliy Korchynsky, while a single constituency in Vinnytsia Oblast was won byPetro Poroshenko.
After 2002, Solidarity stopped participating in elections.[5][27] In 2004, the party left Our Ukraine, and was represented by 23 deputies in theVerkhovna Rada (the forming of new factions whose parties were not directly elected into parliament was not unique in Ukraine at the time.)[clarification needed][28] In March 2013 theMinistry of Justice asked theCentral Election Commission of Ukraine for evidence that Solidarity had not been involved in elections since 2003.[22]
On 16 October 2013, a court cancelled the registration certificate of Solidarity.[22] The party could have challenged this on appeal, but did not[22] and was legally eliminated on 31 December 2013 "due to lack of reporting".[29] and because for more than 10 years had not participated in any election.[22]
Early in 2014, Poroshenko became leader of theNational Alliance of freedom and Ukrainian patriotism "OFFENSIVE", which was renamed "All-Ukrainian Union Solidarity".[22][29] By doing so, Poroshenko de facto prolonged the life of Solidarity and de facto merged the National Alliance of freedom and Ukrainian patriotism "OFFENSIVE" into Solidarity[22][29] (legally the original party "Solidarity" does not exist anymore[22][29]). National Alliance of freedom and Ukrainian patriotism "OFFENSIVE" was registered in May 2000 under the nameAll-Ukrainian Party of Peace and Unity (Ukrainian:Всеукраїнська партія миру i єдності, HPEM). It was not allowed to participate in theelectoral alliance "Rainbow" in theUkrainian 2002 parliamentary elections.[30] In the2006 elections, the party failed as part of the electoral allianceYuriy Karmazin Bloc to win parliamentary representation.[30] In the2007 elections, the party failed again as part of theAll-Ukrainian Community to win parliamentary representation.[30] After this election (the party) "All-Ukrainian Party of Peace and Unity" was renamed National Alliance of Freedom and Ukrainian patriotism "OFFENSIVE".[31] National Alliance of freedom and Ukrainian patriotism "OFFENSIVE" did not participate in the2012 parliamentary elections.[32]
During a 27 August 2014 party congress, the "All-Ukrainian Union Solidarity" changed its name to "Bloc of Petro Poroshenko" (Ukrainian:Блок Петра Порошенка,Blok Petra Poroshenka),[38] and elected the formerMinister of Internal Affairs,Yuriy Lutsenko, as the new leader of the party.[38]
On 2 September,Vitali Klitschko, then parliamentary leader of theUkrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, stated that since his party and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc had agreed to joint participation in parliamentary elections on 29 March 2014, the two parties were in discussion about running a joint list at theOctober 26 parliamentary election.[39] On 15 September it became clear that 30% of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc election list would be filled by members of UDAR and that UDAR leader Klitschko was at the top of this list; Klitschko vowed not to resign as incumbentMayor of Kyiv,[40] but on 21 November he gave up his seat in the new parliament.[41] According to political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański (in mid-September 2014) this deal withUDAR "enables it to use that party's large-scale structures, which the Poroshenko Bloc itself lacks".[18]
Party support (% of the votes cast) in different regions of Ukraine (in the 2014 parliamentary election)
The party won the parliamentary election with 132 seats, beating the runner-upPeople's Front, who won 82 seats.[7] People's Front was first in the nationwide party vote (22.14% against 21.81%) but the party won 69constituency seats while People's Front won only 18.[7] On 27 November 2014, the party formed a parliamentary faction of 145 people (at the opening session of the new parliament).[42]
On 21 November 2014, the party became a member of the coalition supporting thesecond Yatsenyuk government and endorsed nine new ministers for the government.[43][44]
"Real change, not false promises" – a Petro Poroshenko Bloc billboard inSaltivka
In March 2015, "Solidarity" was added to the name "Bloc of Petro Poroshenko". On 28 August 2015UDAR and Petro Poroshenko Bloc officially merged into Petro Poroshenko Bloc.[8] UDAR party leaderVitali Klitschko became so the new party leader.[8]
According to Ukrainian media research of February 2016 22% of the parties' representatives in regional councils and 12% of the parties' parliamentary deputies were former members of theParty of Regions.[48]
Following the fall of the second Yatsenyuk government, the party joined the coalition that supports the 14 April 2016 installedGroysman Government.[49] In the weeks prior to this 11 MPs had switched to the faction making forming the coalition possible.[50][51]
Klitschko resigned as Petro Poroshenko Bloc chairman (on 26 May) after a new law barring him as head of theKyiv City State Administration to be chairman or a member of a political party took effect on 1 May 2016.[52]
Results of the 2019 electionsEuropean Solidarity poster in 2020. The text reads "our goal is a European Kyiv".
The party changed its name to its current form on 24 May 2019.[53] According to party leader Poroshenko this had to be done in order to bring in a new leadership of the party and to win the2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[54]
In the 2019 parliamentary election, European Solidarity scored badly, dropping to 8.10% of votes and electing 23 MPs (37% of which were women[56]) on the nationwide party list and winning 2 constituency seats.[11] The party voted against the confidence vote in the newHoncharuk Government.
The party officially decries populism and advocates for pragmatism and realism.[19] According toOleg Varfolomeyev of theEurasia Daily Monitor the party is aliberal party (andUDAR was as well).[61] According toBohdan Butkevych ofThe Ukrainian Week, the party does not have an ideological unity.[62] Due to the fact the party was created shortly before the2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election and then its "party list was drawn up by taking almost anyone who was ready and willing to invest their own resources".[62] Hence, its parliamentary faction consists of people who "have very different interests, methods of getting into parliament and plans".[62] (Hence) the party's MPs tend not to vote alike.[62]
The party broadly reflects Poroshenko's ideology. On 27 August 2014, newly elected party leader Yuriy Lutsenko stated that the Petro Poroshenko Bloc should help Poroshenko implement his election promises.[63] Official party positions include:[19]
Privatizing allUkrainian coal mines and liquidate or mothball all mines that cannot be privatized, with social support for the workers of the liquidated or mothballed mines and the population of these territories[65]
Legislation to restrict religions whose leadership reside in aggressor states, e.g. Russia.[66]
^Обрані депутати місцевих рад.www.cvk.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). 23 November 2020.Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved23 November 2020.
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