Legal and organizational instruments of the EU common defense policy implementation at the present stage

The article deals with the problems of legal and institutional support for the implementation of the Common Defense Policy of the EU in current circumstances. The peculiarities of legal regulation of this policy and certain organizational and legal forms of its provision have been determined. It has been established that the legal instrument that provides the implementation of the General Defense Policy, which is an integral part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, has its own features related to the nature of the cooperation of the member states in this area. It is about not so significant, in comparison with economic sphere, restriction by the member states of their sovereign rights in determination of questions of external safety and defense. The consequence of this is the adoption of acts that are predominantly «soft» by their character. The EU initiatives in the field of strengthening the Union's defense capabilities in the context of the implementation of the Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy have been analyzed as well as the international legal framework for cooperation between the EU and NATO with regard to ensuring common defense and security objectives, and also the legal nature of the European Union's acts in the field of the Common Defense Policy has been determined.