Why “Europe” matters. Europeanisation of the Lawmaking process and parliamentary practices: lessons for Ukraine
Although the Europeanisation studies have recently substantially broadened the "geography" of their analysis, little attention so far has been paid to the Eastern neighbours of the European Union, in particular Ukraine. This Report attempts to fill the gap, by considering the Europeanisation of the Ukrainian parliament. It focuses on three dimensions: (і) development of the parliamentary procedures and practices under the influence of the European parliamentary traditions; (ii) institutional and procedural transformations of the legislative process due to the adaptation of Ukraine's legislation to the acquis communautaire, and (ііi) Europeanisation of the policy-making process, in particular, the role of the "European argument" in the law-making.
For the EU readers, the Ukrainian experience, presented by this Report, restores the initial stages of European integration with their impact on the functioning of the legislative and executive branches of power, demonstrating formation of the grounds for the inertness of the national parliaments in EU-related matters. For the Ukrainian audience, this study accesses the scale on which "the European factor" influences the parliamentary activities, the legislative process and the modelling of domestic reforms, while comparison with other EU countries presents a possibility for a timely understanding of the need for the development of the institutional capacity of the Parliament of Ukraine in the issues dealing with European integration, in particular concerning the adaptation of Ukraine's legislation to the acquis communautaire. Being critical regarding the current state of play, this Report suggests a set of parliamentary reforms, arguing that the need for development is nowadays particularly appealing in the context of negotiations regarding the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, where the adaptation of Ukraine’s legislation to EU law is one of the key priorities.
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