The Supreme Court in the European legal order: President of the Administrative Cassation Court delivered a presentation at an international event

Ukraine's strategic course of integration into the European space leads to the systematic approximation of national legislation to EU law. This demonstrates Ukraine's desire to become a full-fledged member of the European legal community and strengthen its identity as a democratic and rule-of-law state.

The Supreme Court, as the highest court in the judicial system of the state, ensures the stability and unity of judicial practice in the manner and under the procedure established by the procedural law. The Court plays an important role in shaping the European and international legal order, while ensuring the continuity of justice in times of war.

This was stated by Mykhailo Smokovych, President of the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, during an online lecture on "The State Council of Greece (Supreme Administrative Court) and its place in the European legal order".

Speaking on "The Supreme Court in the European Legal Order: Challenges to the Continuity of Justice and Prospects for International Cooperation", the speaker noted that in a democratic society it is extremely important to strike a balance between national security and human rights, especially in the context of military realities. The Supreme Court plays a key role in shaping important legal positions, ensuring the unity of judicial practice, legal certainty and predictability of law enforcement. During the period of martial law, the Supreme Court laid down doctrinal provisions to guarantee the rights of military personnel, war veterans, internally displaced persons and other categories of citizens affected by armed aggression, ensuring the principles of justice, legal certainty and proportionality.

The case law of the ECHR and the EU Court of Justice is also playing an increasingly important role in the development of the national legal system. The implementation of European standards in the national law is a key factor in the formation of an effective judicial system integrated into the European legal space.

In addition, as the President of the Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court noted, in the international legal space, strengthening cooperation between the supreme courts of different countries is an important factor in the development of the rule of law. The areas of such cooperation may include:

• participation in international associations (for example, ACA-Europe);
• institutional partnership between supreme courts to develop unified legal approaches to human rights protection;
• exchange of judicial practice - mutual use of precedents and legal positions, which contributes to the convergence of legal systems;
• joint scientific and practical conferences and colloquia to discuss current challenges (issues related to national security, migration crises, military conflicts);
• introduction of long-term communication mechanisms, internships for judges and court staff, exchange of specialists, etc.

According to Mykhailo Smokovych, expanding cooperation with the supreme courts of different countries will not only facilitate the exchange of experience in the application of international standards, unification of legal approaches and development of judicial doctrines. Such interaction will ensure that optimal legal mechanisms and innovative ways of protecting human rights that meet modern challenges are found.

According to the speaker, through international cooperation and transnational dialogue, we will be able to jointly develop best practices and formulate common standards of judicial proceedings for the effective protection of human rights based on the rule of law.

The event was organised by the Global South Network, an international interdisciplinary network for the exchange of knowledge in the social, religious, political, legal, and economic spheres.