OBSERVARE

Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Thematic Dossier

Rule of Law, Human Rights, and Institutional

Transformation in Times of Global and National Challenges

LEGAL INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: ANALYSIS OF

THE KEY PRINCIPLES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION

VLADYSLAV NOVITSKYI

academy_knowledge@meta.ua

Postgraduate Student, Department of Theory of State and Law V. M. Koretsky Institute of State

and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Kyiv (Ukraine)

Kyiv, (Ukraine)

VOLODYMYR DEMYDENKO

Ph.D in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of Constitutional Law National Academy of

Internal Affairs, Kyiv (Ukraine) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6771-0080

Abstract

Legal integration in the European Union is a systemic phenomenon which goes beyond the

coordination of national legislation and forms a supranational regulatory mechanism. The

relevance of the study stems from the need to understand the role of the principles of legal

integration as the basis of the EU's legal unity, and to analyze their impact on the

transformation of legal systems of individual countries in the context of the growing volume

of EU rules and the evolution of integration processes. The aim is to clarify the essence,

structure and practical impact of the EU legal integration principles (rule of law, direct effect,

subsidiarity, proportionality) on the formation and implementation of national legislation of

the Member States, as well as to assess their role in creating a single legal space. The study

national legislation to EU norms, in particular, through subsidiary control and judicial

supervision, which ensure a balance between the supranational and national levels. Further

research may be aimed at analyzing the effectiveness of the subsidiary control mechanism,

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

deepening the study of judicial influence on legal integration, and forecasting the evolution of

the EU legal area in the context of new challenges.

Keywords

Ukrainian constitutionalism, human rights, municipal security, European Union, legal

transformação dos sistemas jurídicos de cada país no contexto do crescente volume de regras

da UE e da evolução dos processos de integração. O objetivo é esclarecer a essência, a

estrutura e o impacto prático dos princípios de integração jurídica da UE (Estado de direito,

efeito direto, subsidiariedade, proporcionalidade) na formação e implementação da legislação

nacional dos Estados-Membros, bem como avaliar o seu papel na criação de um espaço

jurídico único. O estudo baseia-se em métodos dialéticos, hermenêuticos, históricos e

jurídicos, bem como em métodos jurídicos comparativos. O autor analisou os tratados

fundadores da UE, a legislação secundária, a jurisprudência e as disposições constitucionais

dos Estados-Membros. Foram utilizados métodos de modelação e previsão para avaliar as

perspetivas de desenvolvimento da integração jurídica. Está estabelecido que a integração

jurídico da UE no contexto de novos desafios.

Palavras-chave

Constitucionalismo ucraniano, direitos humanos, segurança municipal, União Europeia,

integração jurídica, direito supranacional.

How to cite this article

Novitskyi, Vladyslav, Krusian, Anzhelika, Shynkar, Tetiana, Demydenko, Volodymyr & Lemekha,

Roman (2026). Legal Integrative Framework in the European Union: Analysis of the Key Principles

and Their Influence on the National Legislation. Janus.net, e-journal of international relations.

Thematic Dossier - Rule of Law, Human Rights, and Institutional Transformation in Times of Global

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

VLADYSLAV NOVITSKYI

ROMAN LEMEKHA

For the European Union, legal integration has become a systemic phenomenon that has

gone far beyond the mere coordination of national legislation, turning into a powerful

supranational mechanism that forms a new quality of interaction between member

states. In the current conditions of the EU's functioning, law appears not only as a

regulatory tool, but also as a fundamental structure that supports the integrity and

efficiency of the integration process, defines the limits and mechanisms of influence of

not just comparable, rules governing integration relations in all member states.

Importantly, this integration is based on the interpenetration of national and European

legal orders, resulting in a complex, multi-level legal system that does not offset, but

rather enhances the potential of national law through its inclusion in the EU legal space.

In this context, the principles of legal integration, which serve as conceptual guidelines

and regulatory frameworks for the functioning of the unified legal system, are of

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

particular importance. These principles - in particular, the principle of primacy of EU law,

the principle of direct effect, the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality - determine

the nature of interaction between the EU institutions themselves and the Member States,

and ensure the effectiveness of legal regulation and legal certainty for all subjects of law,

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

obligations not only for EU states and institutions, but also for persons subject to the

jurisdiction of member states.

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

to analyze the peculiarities of national mechanisms for implementing EU law into the

domestic legislation of different countries, which made it possible to identify common

features and differences in the degree of adaptation of national legislation to the

requirements of the EU legal system. In addition, modeling and forecasting methods were

significantly from traditional models of national and international law. That is why in legal

doctrine, the EU is increasingly qualified as a “sui generis” system, i.e., one that has an

independent nature. Although EU law closely interacts with international and domestic

law of the Member States, it, according to the Court of Justice of the European Union,

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

functions as an independent legal system integrated into the legal order of the Member

States in such a way that their national courts are obliged to directly apply EU law, in

particular those with direct effect. As the Court notes, the subjects of EU law are not only

the Member States themselves, but also their citizens, so European law has not only a

The scale of the impact of EU law on national legal systems is evidenced by statistics

showing that 10 to 40% of laws adopted at the national level are directly caused by

supranational regulation, and about 60 to 70% of EU legal acts have a direct regulatory

effect not only at the national but also at the local level of law (Chablais, 2024). Thus,

national legal systems are gradually being filled with EU law, which is not perceived as

integrated into national legal systems not as a frozen set of rules, but as a “living code”.

they do not contradict the application of European law. National judicial authorities do

not have discretion in the application of the Union's acts - they are obliged to ensure

their priority application even in cases of conflict with the rules of domestic law (Eliantonio

& Boymans, 2013).

The mechanism of supranational legal integration within the EU is based on the fact that

it is the Member States, and not the Union as such, that ensure the implementation,

enforcement and application of EU acts through their executive and judicial authorities.

Unlike federal systems or international organizations with their own local executive

structures, the European Union does not have its own regional or local executive bodies

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

Union has repeatedly recognized the liability of Member States for damage caused to

individuals in the event of untimely or improper implementation of directives within the

direct legal relationship (European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, 2024).

The modern legal mechanism uses the principle of a clear delineation of competencies

determined by the political and legal sensitivity of the issue for the Member States, the

level of their readiness for supranational regulation in the relevant area, and the degree

of integration interdependence. An analysis of the existing legal framework shows that

in situations involving industries that directly affect national interests, priority is usually

given to a special legislative procedure, which provides for the key role of the EU Council

as a representative body of the Member States. It is particularly noteworthy that the

TFEU explicitly authorizes the European Parliament to adopt legislation on its own only

in exceptional cases (Article 223), the procedure for exercising parliamentary

investigative powers (Article 226) and the status of the Ombudsman (Article 228), while

in the vast majority of such cases, the special procedural initiative and decision-making

power belong exclusively to the Council (Canihac, 2024).

The Council of the EU has a crucial role in balancing supranational and national interests,

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

VOL. 16, Nº. 2, TD3

Roman Lemekha

In the context of protecting national legislative prerogatives, the European Union

operates on the principle of “intra vires”, which means that its activities are limited

exclusively to those powers that the EU countries have granted through the founding

treaties to achieve the goals set out in these documents, leaving any competence not

transferred to the Union to the Member States, which reflects the peculiarity of the

distribution of powers laid down in the 1950s when the European Communities were

established. The approach itself indicates that the functions of regulating not integral

spheres of social relations are transferred, but only their individual aspects, clearly

the very existence of the Union's competence, the others regulate its practical

application, answering the key questions: whether the EU has the right to act (the

principle of conferral of competence), whether it is appropriate for it to act (the principle

of subsidiarity), and if so, to what extent and how (the principle of proportionality), which

emphasizes their interdependence and convergence in the modern EU legal order. As

noted by Muraviov 2023, the principle of competence is a prerequisite for the application

of subsidiarity, as the lack of competence automatically violates this principle, while

proportionality depends on subsidiarity, which already contains an element of

proportionality, demonstrating the complex interaction of these principles in the process

of legal integration and their impact on the balance between supranational and national

with possible results at the EU level (Stone Sweet, 2005). Thus, in the case of Member

States that have sufficient means to achieve an objective, even if Union action could be

more effective due to economies of scale, the current wording of the TEU does not give

the EU priority, emphasizing that the Union acts only when national means are insufficient

and objectives can be better achieved at the supranational level (Chiocchetti, 2023).

According to K. Lenarts, this norm, inherited from the Maastricht Treaty with certain

changes in the Lisbon Treaty, serves as a guarantee of preserving national sovereignty,

obliging the Union to refrain from acting if the Member States are able to achieve the

goal on their own, which emphasizes the priority of the sufficiency of national means as

a key criterion in the modern EU legal framework. In this context, the insufficiency of the