Kyrylko D. Political aspects of bilateral relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Due to the growing role of regional unions during the establishment of security regimes and systems of stability, the EU continues playing a significant role while guaranteeing security in Europe. Defending the concept of “indivisibility of security”, the EU is trying to eliminate not only its own threats, but also to ensure stability of the countries located in the border areas, in particular, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The study of theoretical and practical aspects of the expansion of the security zone around the EU in combination with the stabilization of all spheres of life of its neighbouring countries on the basis of establishing bilateral cooperation between the actors allowed the author to achieve the following results: the analyses of the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the clarification of the essence of the category of security is carried out; the concept of scientific substantiation of security relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine is defined in the context of the establishment of the system of “cooperative security: in the region; the key legal and regulatory framework for political cooperation between the European Union and ODED-GUAM states is determined on the basis of the analysis of bilateral relations between the actors in their evolutionary dimension; the priority directions of cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in the economic sphere are outlined taking into account the sectoral potential of development of economies of these countries; the role of the EU in the settlement of conflicts in the territory of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine is determined, as well as the level of involvement of the organization into these processes is defined on the basis of the specific forms of interaction between the actors and their jointly developed mechanisms for stabilizing the situation; the trends in the EU relations with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in the process of solving migratory transboundary issues in the territory of the European continent are traced. Within the framework of the national science of international relations, this study firstly allowed to carry out a holistic problematic and chronological study of the evolution of security relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on the basis of the exploration of development of bilateral interactions between the actors during the implementation of a comprehensive approach to the international security issues in the European continent caused by military and so-called ‘non-traditional’ political, economic and migratory threats. Besides that, bilateral models of security interactions between the European Union and the above-mentioned countries are outlined while paying attention to the formation of the modern system of regional relations in Europe and the transformation of the essence of multilevel geopolitical influences. While preparing the thesis, the definition of the concept of cooperative security in the regional dimension of the development of the European continent and the theoretical basis for understanding the causes of the establishment and development of the international dialogue between the EU and the post-Soviet countries have been improved on the basis of studying the existing models of cooperation used by the organization along the ‘European Union – Periphery’ axis. The conclusions proposed in the thesis can be used as an additional theoretical basis for the further study of the European security area and the conduct of relevant practical activities at the state level.