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The article examines the evolution of the European Commission appointment procedure in the context of the institutional balance between the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the European Commission. The growing influence of the European Parliament on the appointment of the Commission and the nomination of its President is described as an indicator of the development of integration because it demonstrates how the EU supranational institutional system moves closer to the institutional systems of nation states. The European Parliament has gained power similar to national parliaments. The European elections’ results are taken into account during appointment of the European Commission. Despite remaining existing differences between the EU institutional system and national institutions, the author attempts to apply the Sartori concept in order to examine the dynamics of the EU institutional balance. As Sartori described, interaction between parties in national parliaments and governments and gradual transformation towards party government, similar tendencies could be found on the European level. The analysis of the theoretical interpretations, legal basis and practical experience of the European Commission’s appointment enables the author to determine the increased role of the European Parliament vis-à-vis other institutions and the growing importance of the European parties. The current procedure demonstrates a shift from the technocratic functional approach to an ideological approach leading to a growing importance of European politics.

For several decades the European Union was recognised as a major Russian partner, as cooperation with the EU had important political and economic effects on Russia. While these relations were based on common interests in such areas as energy, trade and cross-border cooperation, they also faced serious difficulties because of their different interpretation of values. A traditional explanation of Russia’s attitude to the European Union was based on the theoretical assumptions of the rationalist approach. Neorealists tend to concentrate on the conflicts between the EU and Russia and describe it as a result of their struggle for spheres of influence over their common neighbourhood. In contrast, Neoliberals focused on EU-Russia cooperation and explained it as a problem- solving mechanism based on common interests and the necessity to solve common problems. While the rationalist approach fails to explain transformation of Russia’s perception of the EU, constructivists demonstrate their capacity to explain the evolution of relations between the EU and Russia and the changes of Russia’s policy towards the EU. This article studies the evolution of Russia’s perception of the European Union within the context of EU-Russia relations and their possible theoretical interpretations. In order to examine Russia’s perception of the EU, a constructivist theoretical framework is used with a special focus on imitation and social learning. The imitation process is illustrated by Russia’s implementation of democratic norms and practices; the social learning concepts are used to evaluate political ideas used by Russia to show its vision of the EU and relations with the EU

This article is devoted to the formation and development of transnational political parties. It is a highly crucial issue for academic research due to active development of transnational parties and their growing role in the decision-making process. As a result of this research, it was argued that development of transnational parties was determined by integration processes. The European integration demonstrates that active cooperation of political parties on the supranational level is highly dependent on the parliamentary assemblies, their budgetary and legislative competences, and elections to form parliamentary assemblies. Then national political parties are interested in joint activities, transnational parties’ structures and consolidation of political programmes to participate in the regional institutions. The practical importance of this article is determined by evaluation of major factors stimulating international political parties’ cooperation and formation of transnational parties.

The Eastern enlargement of the European Union has substantial influence on EU external policy and its relations with non-EU countries, including Russia. In this situation, Russia's main concern is to avoid the creation of new dividing lines after the enlargement. This paper will argue that instead of dividing Europe, the EU enlargement would create a framework for further cooperation and eventually rapprochement between the EU and Russia. Therefore, Russia would be able to benefit from this process. The paper will analyse the consequences of the EU enlargement for Russia and examine the main political concepts determining directions of this rapprochement between the European Union and Russia: New Neighbourhood, Common Spaces and Eastern dimension.