Following a request made by the Ukrainian authorities and as part of the continuous support provided by the Council of Europe to further promoting decentralization in Ukraine, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, decided to appoint Daniel Popescu, Head of the Good Governance Division and of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, as his Special Advisor to the Government of Ukraine on Decentralisation. Mr Popescu, who has over twenty years of experience with decentralisation and local government reforms in Europe, took up his duties on 4 April 2016.