Legal Integration of Ukraine into a United Europe and its Impact on the Legal Culture of the Legislator

The legal integration of Ukraine into the legal order of the European Union affects the quality of the legal culture of civil servants engaged in regulatory and interpretative legal activities, scientists and Ukrainian society as a whole. The purpose of the study is to analyze and synthesize information related to the formation of the theory and practice of adapting Ukrainian legislation to the EU acquis communautaire; determine its impact on the modernization of the legal system of Ukraine and, in particular, the legal culture of legislators. The research logic necessitated the application of a comprehensive set of approaches and methods, including: the formal-legal method, which enabled the formulation of fundamental terms, concepts, characteristics, constructions, and classifications; the historical method, which proved instrumental in analyzing the process of formation and development of Ukrainian legislative adaptation to EU law; and the comparative-legal method, employed when comparing domestic approaches with those of Eastern European countries regarding legal integration processes. The article demonstrates that EU law represents a product of regional legal integration emerging from the convergence of elements from continental and Anglo-Saxon legal families. Convergence leads to the creation of universal legal norms and the development of rules for overcoming contradictions contained in the national legislation of EU member states, while expanding the spectrum of legal sources that existed in national legal systems prior to convergence initiation. Convergence influences the modernization process not only of EU member states but also candidate countries during the implementation of European Union membership criteria. The research results confirm that adaptation of national legislation to EU law constitutes a multifactorial process that involves not merely transposition of norms but also modernization of legal culture, primarily of legislators. The research findings will contribute to enhancing the efficiency of legislative adaptation, ensuring Ukraine's legal integration into the European legal space, and forming the foundation for further legislative reforms.