Mykievych M. Legal Principles of the Organization and Activity of the European Union in the Sphere of Foreign and Security Policy

This dissertation deals with a comprehensive study of the international and legal principles of the functioning and institutional development of the European Union in the sphere of its foreign and security policy. The work on the basis of thoroughly analysed legal rules and modern legal theories provides main characteristics of the European Union as a new form of an international association of sovereign states. It has been proved that the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is a form of legal cooperation of the Member States of the European Union, built on regular links which formalise their meaning as a system of effective legal rules which originate from basic agreements, concluded under general international law. The work defines the status of the European Union in respect of its internal law; pays special attention to the peculiarities of the legal nature of basic agreements of the European Union establishing corresponding legal orders in general and for the CFSP in particular; provides deepinsights into the objectives and functions of the CFSP as an institutional category of law which are of legal importance i.e. are legally binding upon the parties involved into their implementation. We stress on the existence of the immediate links between the objectives and functions of the CFSP which are guaranteed by the competencies and obligations of the Member States. The work presents some mechanisms of regulation of Ukrainian cooperation with the European Union in the sphere of the CFSP with the provisions of the new extended agreement on cooperation which currently is being prepared, especially concerning Ukrainian participation in peace-making initiatives of the European Union.