SOCIAL POLICY IN UKRAINE: APPROACHES AND CHALLENGES FOR REFORMING UNDER THE EU INTEGRATION OBLIGATIONS

The purpose of this paper is to summarise the challenges, problems and prospects of reforming Ukrainian social legislation and social policy within the framework of a balanced strategy for safely implementing European integration aspirations and obligations. Methodology. The evolution, modern approaches and problematic issues of the national legislative authorities' views on the systematisation of the foundations of population social protection and security, and their codification, are outlined in the context of growing challenges relating to the shortage of relevant budget and other targeted expenditure. There is also a need to improve the implementation of constitutional guarantees (especially those provided by the state) and to strengthen social assistance targeting, primarily according to the criterion of difficult life circumstances. An analysis is conducted of the approaches and practices for systematising the social protection norms for the population that are promoted in Ukraine, compared with the basic legislation that operates and develops in the EU. Results. The increasingly threatening problems of natural population reproduction in Ukraine, the deterioration of the quantitative and qualitative parameters of the labour provision of the national economy, and the strengthening of migration sentiments and processes in society emphasise the significant role of social legislation and social policy in consistently mitigating and preventing these negative trends. The European Code of Social Security identifies numerous indicators and benchmarks for providing certain types of social assistance to the population or its targeted categories. The utilisation of indicators and benchmarks facilitates the augmentation of expenditures during periods of economic recovery. Furthermore, these tools enable the formulation of strategies and the identification of methodologies for the utilisation of social levers of economic progress. Additionally, they assist in the maintenance of the validity of socially significant protection norms and standards during periods of recession and stagnation. Practical implications. The conditions, features, and criteria for reforming the national social protection system within the framework of long-term strategic guidelines for Ukraine's European integration have been determined, taking into account the urgency of socio-economic security of this process (especially according to the goals of preserving and optimising the quantitative and qualitative parameters of the population's natural and labour potential reproduction, maintaining the competitiveness of the workforce, the economy and its territorial subsystems, and Ukrainian business entities in the globalised world of competing national actors). Value / Оriginality. The present study examines the problems and prospects of reforming Ukrainian social legislation and social policy according to the strategic priorities of European integration, as well as the relevant basic EU law norms.