Stefan Terlezki and the processes of European integration during 1970–1980s

Yehor Brailian,

PhD (History), Associate Professor,

State Institution «Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk», Lubny, Ukraine

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2524-048X.2026.34.1

 

Abstract.

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to examine the place and role of Stefan Terlezki in the processes of European integration during the 1970s and 1980s. Methodology. In writing this scientific article, the authors used the approaches of transnational history, international history, and civilization. The issue is examined in three contexts: the Ukrainian diaspora in Great Britain, the role of Great Britain in the processes of European integration, and London’s policy towards the European Economic Community.

Terlezki was a member of the political group ‘Keep Britain in Europe’ during the referendum held in June 1975. He later served as a member of the House of Commons of the British Parliament (1983–1987) and was a member of the delegation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Western European Union in 1985–1987.

Scientific novelty. The article introduces archival documents relating to the public, political and diplomatic activities of Stefan Terlezki (1927–2006) into scientific circulation. These materials allow us to analyse the history of European integration, taking into account the Ukrainian question in British and international politics during the Cold War. 

The processes of European integration in the 1970s and 1980s are shown as a period when the Ukrainian people’s struggle for decolonisation against the USSR continued. The example of Stefan Terlezki showed that raising the Ukrainian question in the European dimension was an important but insufficient step, as European politicians knew and understood little about the colonial nature of Moscow’s policy towards the Ukrainian SSR.

Conclusions. The process of conceptual rethinking of the history of European integration is currently underway. A direct participant in these processes in the 1970s and 1980s in the context of Great Britain and Europe was Stefan Terlezki, a representative of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United Kingdom. In the current geopolitical conditions, it is necessary to take into account the experience of advocacy and communication development in the past in order to act now.

Keywords: Western European Union, European Economic Community, European integration, Council of Europe, Great Britain, Stefan Terlezki, Ukrainian diaspora.

 

Submitted 01.12.2025

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