Research on the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to international norms and principles based on justice and legitimacy

This article aimed to examine the effectiveness of legal adaptation processes in Ukraine in adapting to the standards of international justice and legitimacy in the context of European integration commitments. The research was carried out by applying a set of research methods (comparative legal, systemic, institutional, statistical, and content analysis), which was implemented in three stages: analysis of conceptual and legal foundations, empirical assessment of sectoral reforms, and examination of institutional mechanisms for ensuring legitimacy. The information and empirical base of the research was the data that by the end of 2024 Ukraine fulfilled 81% of its commitments under the Association Agreement with the European Union, the level of citizen satisfaction with the quality of administrative services has increased to 94.7%, and the level of corruption in this sphere has decreased from 24% in 2014 to 3.8% in 2024. The analysis of 158 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against Ukraine in 2024 testified to the preservation of systemic problems in ensuring property rights and providing procedural guarantees, while positive dynamics are observed in preventing torture. The most adapted spheres of legal regulation were anti-corruption policy (the launch of activity of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, which issued 245 judgments since the beginning of its activity) and digitalisation of legal proceedings (the number of electronic documents increased from 548,813 in 2022 to 3,186,546 in 2024). At the same time, structural disproportions were found in fulfilling the tasks of adaptation at different levels of power: the indicators of performance reached 79% in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 74% in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and only 62% in other bodies of state power. The practical significance of the study consists in the possibility of using its results by the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration for improving the system of monitoring the European integration processes; by the committees of the Parliament – for strengthening the legislative framework for legal adaptation; by the judicial authorities – for bringing the law enforcement practice closer to European standards; by international organisations and the expert community – for assessing the effectiveness of legal reforms in candidate countries for EU membership