Forum “Reforms. Decentralisation. European Integration” took place in Bucha. The discussion focused on the prospects of the reform of local self-government and the territorial organisation of government for 2024, as well as the reconstruction of communities.

“We are updating and actualising legislation in order to strengthen the institutional capacity of communities and create effective multi-level governance.

For the further implementation of the decentralisation reform, it is important to adopt amendments to the legislation on local state administrations that will allow them to be transformed into prefectural-type bodies and to introduce a balanced system to ensure the legality of actions. In order to ensure transparency and accountability in the process of community recovery, we are launching the DREAM digital ecosystem for recovery management, which is already active in more than 150 communities. Another important digital tool is the Geographic Information System (GIS), which allows us to make decisions, implement recovery plans and monitor their implementation based on up-to-date data.

Our partners help us with all these processes. They support communities through our Community Support Team initiative.

I am convinced that the synergy of state authorities, local self-government and civil society institutions will help Ukraine to establish sustainable democratic governance at the local level,” said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.

The key tasks of the decentralisation reform now include:

• Separation of powers between local self-government bodies and executive authorities;
• Development of local democracy. The Verkhovna Rada has already adopted relevant legislative initiatives in this area in the first reading (draft laws No. 6319 and No. 7283);
• Legislative regulation of the resumption of the activities of local governments and executive authorities in the de-occupied territories, and the transition from military to civilian administration;
• Strengthening the financial capacity of local self-government. In particular, improving the mechanism of payment of personal income tax to local budgets and reviewing the mechanism of horizontal equalisation of local budgets.

The Minister also noted that the recently published report of the European Commission recognised the positive results of the decentralisation reform. Taking into account the relevant recommendations of the European Commission, the Ministry has prepared proposals for the Ukraine Plan to continue the decentralisation reform and has developed an extended action plan for the implementation of the reform until 2027. The Ukraine Plan was presented at the beginning of November this year.

The forum was organised by the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development. It is facilitated and supported by USAID’s Governance and Local Accountability Activity (HOVERLA), ULEAD with Europe, the Swiss-Ukrainian project DECIDE – Decentralisation for Improved Democratic Education, and the Council of Europe Programme “Strengthening Good Democratic Governance and Resilience in Ukraine”.