EUROPEAN INTEGRATION CHALLENGES IN THE CRIMINAL LAW POLICY OF UKRAINE IN WAR REGIME

Abstract

Ukraine’s European integration direction has led to a set of significant changes in legislation and practice. Obviously, this is a high price, but the war has brought Ukraine closer to joining the European Union than ever before. On February 28, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. On April 8, 2022, during a visit to Kyiv by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, a questionnaire was personally handed over to the Ukrainian side to obtain Ukraine’s candidate status for membership in the European Union. The war in Ukraine showed the effectiveness of European values. It showed their importance not only in the documents, but in concrete steps towards Ukraine’s meeting with European countries, in particular in sanctions against the Russian Federation, its oligarchs, diplomats and high-ranking officials. At the same time, harmonization with the legislation of the European Union still requires comprehensive changes in the legislation of Ukraine, in particular criminal legislation. Moreover, necessity of movement to European values and principles has been identified. Each state is sovereign and unique in the peculiarities of its legal regulation. However European countries are united with the values. The Association Agreement highlights in particular the following values: respect for the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, non-discrimination, and respect for diversity. The last but not the least, it should be noted that Ukraine has already taken some steps towards such an approximation, but there are still many unresolved issues, including methodological. The draft of the new criminal legislation of Ukraine, which is being developed by the Working Group from 2019, should take into account the peculiarities of European law, but also preserve national peculiarities. European sanctions are not so fast, but over time they will prove effective as a response to war crimes by another state.