A “Strasbourg format” meeting (i.e. in camera negotiations among national stakeholders) on the topic of sanctions against local elected members was organised on 25 February. The meeting brought together the main stakeholders from central, regional and local authorities who discussed the draft law “On amendments to the law “On local self-government” (register No. 9178). The meeting was organised in close collaboration with the Parliamentary Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government of Ukraine and with the Special Envoy of the Government of Germany for the Ukrainian reform agenda Prof. Georg MILBRADT. The discussion was based on pre-defined questionnaire and moderated jointly by Head of the Council of Europe Democratic Governance Department Mr Daniel POPESCU and Prof. Georg MILBRADT. The conclusions of the meeting will provide recommendations on improving the draft law, in the context of the on-going reform of local self-government in Ukraine.

The Programme Steering Committee took place on 26 February, with the purpose to take stock of the achievements of the Programme and its partnerships in 2018. The participants also considered the way forward in 2019, in the light of current developments, challenges and priorities of the decentralisation process and the reform of local self-government in Ukraine. The key national stakeholders and international partners actively participated in the meeting and shared their experience.

Fact finding meetings on the topic of governance, organisation and functioning of local government in metropolitan areas in Ukraine took place on 27-28 February in Kyiv, with the participation of Council of Europe experts. The Council of Europe experts met members of the Parliament of Ukraine, senior officials of the Kyiv City Administration and its subordinate institutions, senior officials and experts from the Association of Ukrainian Cities and other national stakeholders to discuss current legislation, organisation and functioning of local government and governance in metropolitan areas. The meetings contributed to the preparations for a Peer review of the agglomeration of Kyiv expected to take place in May 2019.

The Council of Europe is co-chairing with the Ministry of Regional Development the Donor Decentralisation Board in Ukraine. At the last meeting of the Board (28 February) the Council of Europe confirmed its commitment to continue supporting the decentralisation process in Ukraine with the following priorities legal and policy advice to complete the municipal amalgamation reform, support the reform of the rayons and good governance in metropolitan areas, as well as to legality supervision, reform of the national training system and human resources management in amalgamated communities, in addition to tailor made capacity-building activities and impact-oriented programmes.