Abstract
The open coordination method plays an important role in the processes of integration and unification of European policy on social, economic, environmental, and other issues. The active process of Ukraine’s European integration necessitates a deeper study of the relevant topics regarding the effectiveness and feasibility of this method. The research aims to clarify, analyse, and evaluate the implementation of the open coordination method as a tool for integration and policy convergence of the EU members and participants. The study used historical, statistical, analysis, formal and logical, legal hermeneutics, and other methods. The main results include a study of the essence of the open coordination method and its place among others, correlation of the development of this principle with the development of European integration and cooperation, clarification of the advantages and disadvantages of this method in comparison with the communitarian method and the history of its implementation and consolidation in the main regional documents, analysis of the experience of its application and impact on various spheres, including education, environment, etc., as well as the spread of this method beyond the European Union on the example of the Bologna Process in higher education, analysis of the role of EU governing bodies in ensuring the implementation of this method, proposals for improving the way this method is implemented and used, involving more countries in the exchange of experience and achievements in the field of social policy, etc, as well as the risks of further refusal to use this method due to the lack of expected efficiency. The research results can be used by politicians, scientists, and sociologists to better study the process of European integration and unification, and improve the process of exchanging information, values, and decisions at the level of European cooperation to address pressing issues in various spheres of public life