Under the auspices of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Municipal Economy and Ternopil Oblast State Administration on 20 July 2017 in Ternopil oblast the Forum on “Decentralisation – basis for elaboration of a new efficient management system and local development” was held. About 300 participants, among them Prime-Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr HROYSMAN, representatives of the leadership of some central executive bodies (First Deputy Minister of Regional Development Vyacheslav NEHODA, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Maksym MARTYNIUK, Deputy Minister of Healthcare Roman ILYK, Deputy Minister of Finance Serhiy MARCHENKO, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Yuriy RASHKEVYCH), representatives of the executive and local self-government bodies of all levels from  Ternopil oblast, as well as other oblasts of Ukraine, representatives of local government associations, non-governmental and international organisations, projects and programmes, implemented in the relevant sphere, participated in the event.

In the framework of the Forum the implementation status and further prospects of the on-going reform (in particular, in the Ternopil oblast, medical and educational sectors) were reviewed, an effective model of management system and local development on the example of Ternopil oblast was presented, as well legality control over local authorities acts and experience of Poland and France for Ukraine were discussed.

During the opening of the event the Prime-Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr HROYSMAN referred to the current reform as one of the most successful in the country and outlined its main priorities in the medium-term perspective, namely the completion of communities’ amalgamation, conduction of sectoral reforms, local economic development and citizens’ participation in decision-making. The Head of Democratic Institutions and Governance Department, Directorate General of Democracy of the Council of Europe, Special Adviser to the Government of Ukraine on Decentralisation Daniel POPESCU, underlined that in his opinion, the halfway point towards the reform had been achieved, and if three already existing components – political will, expert capacity of Ukraine and support of international partners – are preserved the reform could be finalised within a couple of years. He also emphasized that opinion polls reflect positive perception of the reform by the majority of Ukrainian population who had already seen the changes in good.

At the event, special attention was paid to the issue of legality control over local authorities’ acts. According to Mr. POPESCU, such control should be carried out by professionals who have not only excellent knowledge of law but also the system of local self-government and existing practices. For example, in France the prefect, in addition to his/her control function, also constantly provides consultations to leadership of local authorities.

Honorary Prefect, Professor of the Institute of Political Studies (Institut d’Etudes Politiques) of Aix-en-Provence, France Jean FABRE presented French experience on the prefect institution. Thus, representative of the State on the ground is the Prefect, but not exclusively, he/she controls a limited number of acts of local authorities, namely on public servants, urban planning or construction, public procurements, public order and budget. In two months maximum the prefect could examine such acts: he/she prepares a letter of observations to notify a local authority on the nature of law violation. Most of the time, local authorities modify or withdraw a decision. In case of negative response or no response at all from a local authority, the prefect has the right to bring the case to the administrative court. Number of such cases is insignificant, comparing to the number of acts reviewed. In 2009, for example, there were 1034 of such acts that means 0,018 % of the total number of acts. Speaking about the effectiveness of the current system, the Honorary Prefect compared it with the video monitoring system for the speeding on the road “they are also criticised. They (cameras) do not detect one speeding on the thousand of speedings committed every day. But if you remove speed cameras, the number of speedings will be multiplied by ten and the deaths on the road also by ten.”

You can learn more about the prefect institution in France and lessons for Ukraine from the brochure published in the framework of the Council of Europe Program “Decentralisation and Territorial Consolidation in Ukraine”.