European experience in organising the activities of law enforcement agencies to ensure security in the border areas of Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the administrative and legal principles of regulating the activities of law enforcement agencies in the field of ensuring the security of border areas of Ukraine, taking into account modern European experience. The focus of the study is on the issues of adapting the national public administration system to the standards of the European Union, as well as developing effective mechanisms for interaction between state authorities in the field of state border protection and protection of national interests. Methodology. The scientific research is based on both general and special methods of scientific knowledge. In particular, the method of documentary analysis and formal-legal and analytical methods have been used in the process of analysing the provisions of individual regulatory legal acts, in particular the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine “On Ukraine’s Accession to the Statute of the Council of Europe”, “On the Prevention of Corruption”, and “On the National Program for Adapting the Legislation of Ukraine to the Legislation of the European Union”, as well as international documents, in particular the Association Agreement between Ukraine, on the one hand, and the European Union, the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, on the other hand, as well as the works of domestic scientists, which provide a comprehensive analysis of these provisions. Structural-logical and system-functional methods were used to provide a comprehensive study and systematic analysis of European approaches to the organisation of security and defence in border regions with a subsequent assessment of the possibilities of their implementation in the activities of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, as well as to investigate the administrative and legal mechanisms used in the member states of the European Union, as well as to determine the prospects for adapting the relevant standards to the national legal system of Ukraine, taking into account modern security challenges. Results. The article establishes that the formation and establishment of an independent geopolitical course of Ukraine, its integration into the European legal and security space are directly related to the improvement of the institutional structure of public administration. Of particular importance is the modernisation of administrative and legal mechanisms for the activities of law enforcement agencies that ensure the internal security of the state, the protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity. In this context, it is important to bring national legislation into line with European standards, the principles of the rule of law, transparency, accountability and efficiency of public administration. Modern transformation processes in the administrative law of Ukraine are characterised by the reform of the public administration system, the strengthening of the role of civil society institutions, as well as the introduction of new forms of interagency coordination. Ensuring security in border areas requires clear regulatory regulation of the competence of subjects of power, the definition of procedures for interaction between law enforcement, border and other executive authorities. In this aspect, administrative and legal regulation acts as a system-forming element that ensures the proper organisation of the activities of authorities and their coordinated interaction. International cooperation in the field of information exchange, risk management, countering cross-border crime and hybrid threats is of particular importance. International legal acts and bilateral agreements determine the main areas of cooperation, which include ensuring economic, information and border security.