Ukraine and Poland launch work on introduction of local self-government reform in Ukraine

posted 01 April 2014 11:56

As was reported, a group of polish experts arrived on March 31 to Ukraine on the invitation of the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development, Building and Housing and Communal Services Volodymyr Hroysman with an aim to assist in realization of local self-government reforming. They have discussed with the Ukrainian party the action plan and determined top priority issues. In the first place, it concerns preparation of a legislative basis for advancing the reform.

“I would like to believe that throughout a month we could elaborate necessary essential changes to the legislation. Over this month we will be capable to launch the process of coordination with the Government and the Parliament,” Volodymyr Hroysman stressed.    

The Ukrainian-Polish expert group has to design models of distribution of responsibilities among all local self-government levels, calculate necessary funding, determine mechanisms of preparation of local communities targeting to ensure their effective fulfillment of duties.

The participants of the joint Polish-Ukrainian meeting have expressed common understanding of importance of the mentioned reform. “In Poland the local self-government reform has been the basis for other reforms within the state. Just this reform has caused reduction of corruption in the regions, growth of small and average enterprises, democratization of the country and enabled to make relations at the local level more democratic and transparent,” said Jacek Michałowski, Head of the Chancellery of the President of Poland.

Today the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine plans to consider elaborated by the Ministry of Regional Development jointly with the expert group the Concept of local self-government reform, which had received support of experts of the Council of Europe. According to Volodymyr Hroysman, approval of the Concept will become a political decision made by the Ukrainian authorities at the start of the local self-government reform.

The Polish experts assured they would accompany the work of Ukrainian officials on all the stages of introduction. The head of the expert group, member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Marcin Swiecicki stressed the group started mission that day already, April 1.