Dubas V. Influence of the practice of the European Commission for Democracy through Law on the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine

The dissertation is devoted to the research in the Ukrainian science of constitutional law of the influence of the practice of the European Commission for Democracy through Law on the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine. The work carried out a comprehensive theoretical and practical analysis of the mechanism of influence of the practice of the Venice Commission, highlighted the forms of influence and characterized the influence of the practice of the Commission on the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine. The paper highlights the factors that determined the special role of the Venice Commission, namely the legal basis for its formation, principles of activity and competence. The significance of the practice of the Venice Commission in the system of sources of law and its influence on the constitutional development of nation states is that it is of a political and legal nature. The nature of the influence of the practice of the Venice Commission on the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine is determined by the object of its direction and the corresponding form. The dissertation formulated the definition of the concept of the practice of The European Commission for Democracy through Law as an external form of objectification of its activities, which is a set of general and individual acts of a recommendatory nature, which are adopted unilaterally and do not need to be implemented. The practice of the Venice Commission is “soft law” if it has the following features: general, the action is aimed at an unlimited range of subjects of international law and is not limited to a one-time application; is politically binding. It has been proved that the influence of the practice of the European Commission for Democracy through Law on the development of European states based on common values and goals is carried out only through a system of institutional mechanisms, i.e. occurs when it is used by international organizations and their bodies, as well as public authorities of national states. The paper substantiates that the influence of the practice of the Venice Commission on the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine is carried out (a) in direct forms, (b) as well as indirectly. The dissertation research classifies the forms of cooperation between the European Commission for Democracy through Law and Ukraine, namely: a preliminary and the following forms of cooperation. Emphasis is placed on how the use of the practice of the European Commission for Democracy through Law affects relative to and within Ukraine. Thus, it is noted that this practice (1) prevents the emergence of constitutional conflicts, (2) plays a key role in decision-making by international, primarily European, organizations regarding Ukraine in connection with modern European integration processes. It is concluded that the use of the practice of the Venice Commission can also have a positive effect on the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine, and vice versa - it can be used by other subjects of law to damage the national and general political situation in the country. Based on the analysis of regularities in the practice of the Venice Commission and trends in the development of constitutionalism in Ukraine, proposals have been developed to improve the current legislation of Ukraine. In particular, it was proposed to improve the constitutional provisions in order to optimize the system of government in Ukraine on the way to the establishment of Ukrainian constitutionalism. In addition, the effectiveness of legislative regulation of cooperation between the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Commission for Democracy through Law was assessed and amendments to the legislation of Ukraine were proposed to establish cooperation between the Parliament of Ukraine and the European Commission for Democracy through Law.