THE IMPACT OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF UKRAINE.

This article looks at the impact of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on 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 EU-Ukraine Association Agreement established a sustainable institutional and legal framework for application of the EU acquis including CJEU case law and comprehensive legislative approximation between Ukrainian and EU law. However, the institutional reforms that have already taken place cannot be regarded as fully sufficient. The Ukrainian Parliament has failed to establish substantive and procedural foundations for applying and implementing the EU-Ukraine AA in the Ukrainian legal order. However, this gap is being partially filled by a surprising judicial activism in Ukraine. The Ukrainian judiciary has already started referring to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and relevant parts of the EU acquis, thereby laying a foundation for regular application of general principles of EU law in applying the provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]