Roman Petrov

Implementation of Association Agreements Between the EU and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia: Legal and Constitutional Challenges

This contribution analyses the constitutional challenges which are likely to arise before Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in the course of implementation of the Association Agreements (AAs) with the European Union (EU) into their legal systems. The contribution focuses on two major challenges to this intricate process. The first challenge is how to ensure effective implementation and application of the AAs within the Ukrainian, Moldovan and Georgian legal orders. The second challenge is how to solve potential conflicts between the AAs and the Constitutions of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. It is concluded that the AAs will serve as a template for further political and economic reforms in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia and will contribute to the integration of these countries into the European legal space.

The Impact of the EU -Ukraine Association Agreement on Constitutional Reform and Judicial Activism in Ukraine

This article looks at the first phase of the implementation and application of the EU -Ukraine Association Agreement, which triggered unprecedented political, economic and legal reforms in Ukraine. In particular, the article focuses on the constitutional challenges that have arisen for Ukraine in the course of implementing the Association Agreement into its legal system. Two issues form the focus of consideration in the article. The first issue is effective implementation and application of the Association Agreement within the Ukrainian legal order. The second issue is compatibility between the Association Agreement and the Ukrainian Constitution. The latest political and legal developments in Ukraine are analyzed through the prism of effective implementation of the Association Agreement and the rise of pro-European judicial activism in Ukraine. In conclusion it is argued that the EU -Ukraine Association Agreement enhanced the adaptability of the national constitutional order to the European integration project and European common values.

The Principle of Good Neighbourliness and the European Neighbourhood Policy

Unprecedented geopolitical and security changes that culminated in deep political crisis in Ukraine in 2014 have brought new challenges to the EU’s external policy towards the East. It appeared that the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) failed to prevent escalating civil conflict in Ukraine and withdrawal of some of the EU eastern neighbours from the course of European integration. The ENP was born in 2004 with ambitious objective to avoid the emergence of new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and the EU’s neighbourhood and to strengthen the prosperity, stability and security beyond the EU borders in line with the principle of good neighbourliness. However these objectives look too far to be fully achieved today. In the meantime the EU’s neighbourhood is an area of active and hidden civil conflicts, intricate border disputes and escalating security threats. Does it mean that the principle of good neighbourliness failed to play its role?

The EU Neighbourhood Policies and the Security Crises within the Eastern Neighbourhood

The first part of the article is devoted to a study of the scope and content of the ENP and the EaP and their impact on security in the region. The second part of the paper analyses the impact of the EU neighbourhood policies on the ‘post-Crimea’ and ‘post-Donbass’ EU neighbourhood.