Arseniy Yatsenyuk: Election campaign slogans about rates and increase of pensions are a myth. Local authorities must solve the problems of daily life of the community

A tariff issue isn’t a problem of local level, but an exceptionally national issue. Local MPs should engage into insulation of houses, repairs, subsidies and energy efficiency: "We have devolved the powers and money from the central budget. We must use them to satisfy people’s needs", stressed Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk in 10 minutes programme on Sunday, October 18.

The Prime Minister noted that the forthcoming elections to local authorities don’t mean national elections: "This election concerns the daily life of each of you, your street, your city. And the MP whom you choose has to solve the problems of your everyday life," he appealed to the citizens.

Whereas, he stressed, that during an election campaign political forces use a series of false slogans, in particular "that they will reduce rates": "It's a lie. Tariffs are determined only by the central government. And those who tell that the tariffs can be reduced just were buying gas at US$ 500 instead of US$ 250, as we could have achieved. And those who promise today the reduction of tariffs have done everything to allow emerging gas oligarchs, leaking billions of dollars out of the state budget and to allow us having gas dependence on the Russian Federation".

However, according to the Head of Government, the local deputies are capable and obliged to complete the subsidy program. Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that the Government had allocated UAH 24.5 billion for providing subsidies: "And it is the local authority which is responsible for providing a government subsidy to each citizen and an opportunity to pay a bill for housing and communal services".

Another objectives of local councils’ deputies is "to install the counters at the expense of the local budget, to replace boilers and windows, insulate buildings, schools and hospitals - to ensure space heating instead of atmosphere heating" - "as a result, people will pay less".

One more campaign slogan is that following the local elections in Ukraine a contract army will appear, Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. The Head of Government stressed that a decision to establish a contract-based army is within the exclusive competence of the President of Ukraine and the Government of Ukraine: "This is our political objective – to create in Ukraine an exceptionally professional and highly skilled army. And we have been moving towards this goal for the last 18 months."

While the commitments of mayors and local MPs are to address the problems of demobilized, Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed: "Just provide jobs for them, ensure their rehabilitation, allow their families to have decent living conditions. And treat every soldier who lives in your city or village, where you will be elected a deputy or a mayor, as a hero".

Some other "promises" of this election campaign, according to the Prime Minister is "that all the local elections will entail boost of wages and pensions": "This is also a myth. The decision to raise wages and pensions has already been taken by the Government of Ukraine. Of course, this is only first step. But all we've earned, the entire extra resource we have received, we have distributed to increase salaries, pensions, maintenance allowance. 12.5 million Ukrainian citizens have been paid additional funds, starting from 1 September of this year".

At the same time, the incumbency of the local authorities is to transparently and effectively use the funds transferred to local budgets as a result of the Government's fiscal decentralization: "After we devolved a number of financial powers to local communities, the incomes of these local communities have grown by 40%. In general, the local communities received additional resource worth 20 billion hryvnias. It is a fantastic amount".

The Prime Minister appealed to the citizens: "You should demand from your local government accountability and transparency in the use of these funds".