The article explores the process of forming the core values of the European Union, which have been normatively enshrined in the Treaty on the European Union. It is revealed that the issues of equality, justice, freedom, and the rule of law—topics that have captured the attention of thinkers across generations—were studied not only by philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. However, it was Greek legal thought that succeeded in shaping a coherent understanding of these concepts. A distinctive feature of this tradition is the practical implementation of many of the aforementioned value-based ideas, particularly the well-known principles of equality, freedom, and the rule of law inherent in Greek democracy. Thanks to Greek philosophers, the natural law approach to legal understanding emerged and developed, viewing law as a value in itself. As a value, law becomes part of the universal human value system, which includes freedom, equality, justice, democracy, security, life, dignity, private property, and human rights and freedoms. The ability to ensure these values constitutes the value of law as a set of norms regulating social relations. At the same time, values within law represent its essence, allowing law to be seen as an ideal toward which every individual aspires. It is established that a key feature of the Western legal tradition, as well as of the natural law concept of law, is the understanding of law through the lens of values. This perspective provides the basis for evaluating legal norms. Such an approach enables the assessment of laws in terms of their alignment with the common good and other legal values. The prioritization of values within the Western legal tradition can be observed throughout all periods of Ukrainian statehood. Greek sophists, as well as Greek and Roman Stoics, articulated their views from the standpoint of the natural law concept. Consequently, they all, in one way or another, addressed issues such as the rule of law, justice, equality, freedom, and the balance between individual and collective interests. This value- based approach laid the ideological foundations of early Christianity. The legacy of classical antiquity and the ideas of early Christianity, concentrated within the natural law concept of law, found expression in the Early Modern and Modern periods, becoming the ideological basis for legal codification in European countries.
Hanna Fedushchak-Paslavska (Thu,) studied this question.