Rule of Law: Supranationalization from the Perspective of Central and Eastern European Countries (Ukraine) - Acta Universitatis Sapientiae

Acta Univ. Sapientiae, Legal Studies, 14, 2 (2025) 229–265

DOI: 10.47745/AUSLEG.2025.14.2.09

Abstract. The principle of the rule of law is a fundamental value on which the European Union (EU) is based on and originates from the constitutional traditions of the EU Member States. Ukraine not only announced its desire to join the EU but also established, in the Preamble to the Constitution, its European geopolitical choice and the European identity of the Ukrainian people. Negotiations on joining the EU will begin soon, among the main ones being the requirement that Ukraine’s legal system should conform to the principle of the rule of law, which is universal, but its meaning and elements are not clearly defined. Therefore, for the success of these negotiations, it is necessary to understand the meaning and elements of this principle, as the principle of the rule of law as a fundamental value has several manifestations and different meanings. From this perspective, the importance attached to this principle by the European Commission in its respective Communications, as well as by the Venice Commission in its Reports, will become the legal basis for these negotiations. This study aims to ‘juridicize’ the issue of understanding the principle of the rule of law from a European and Ukrainian perspective, and it focuses not only on documents of the relevant European institutions but also on the doctrinal understanding of this principle in Ukraine and the activity of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the application of the provisions of Article 8 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which enshrines this principle. This paper comprises five sections, each addressing some facets of  this principle, with an introduction and a conclusion: (1) Ukrainian aspirations towards EU membership – importance of the rule of law principle, (2) the rule of law principle in Ukraine – in search of doctrinal meaning, (3) meaning of the rule of law principle in studies of leading Ukrainian scholars, (4) ‘golden standard’ of the rule of law principle: the contribution of the Venice Commission and its recognition by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, (5) international and European law in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and (6) the rule of law principle and its elements in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine jurisprudence.

Keywords: rule of law, Dicey, Bingham, Rule of Law Checklist, Venice Commission reports on the rule of law, legal certainty, legitimate expectations, proportionality, Ukraine