The European Parliament, the reform and collapse of the Soviet Union : 1985-1991

Drawing on previously untapped archival sources, this study explores the European Parliament's positions on the fundamental changes in the Soviet Union between March 1985 and December 1991. The study demonstrates how the European Parliament's initiatives, including relations with Soviet representatives, advanced Parliament's foreign policy goals at the end of the Cold War. These goals included promoting European Community positions through political pressure and informal negotiations, fighting for human rights in the Soviet Union and the countries of the socialist bloc, opposing the occupation of the Baltic States and encouraging democratic changes inside the Soviet Union, particularly the transformation of its parliamentary body. Members of the European Parliament prioritised supporting the democratic transition in Central and Eastern European countries, liberated from communist rule and the collapsing Soviet empire.