Koval V. Formation and Development of the European Union: historical and legal aspect

The thesis deals with historical and legal aspects of the formation and development of the European Union, democratic legitimatization of its institutional structure. The federalist theory of the European unity is defined as the methodological basis for the studies of the European Union's constitutional structure. The author has analyzed the principal stages of the institutional evolution of the European Union as a federa-tion. The phenomenons of the European supranational parliamentarism and its role in the democratic legitimacy of the European Union have been studied. The author has come to the conclusion that the problems of lack of democratic legitimacy that are peculiar to the EU from the first years of its creation should be solved by the strengthening of the role of par-liamentary mechanisms of the European integration. This also applies to the issues related to the acceptance of the states of the Central and East Europe to the EU.