Ukraine advances in enhancing good democratic governance even under the ongoing Russian aggression.
On 2 May 2023, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the new law “On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies”. It was elaborated taking into account the legal expertise of the Council of Europe’s Centre of Expertise for Good Governance (CEGG).
The new law is aimed at improving the quality of governance and transposing the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, primarily by improving the quality of recruitment based on merit and competence, creating conditions for professional development, reformed remuneration and career prospects. It represents an important step towards harmonising the status of the civil service in central government with that of corresponding positions in local authorities.
The CEGG under several Council of Europe Action Plans for Ukraine has been proving assistance in upgrading the national legal framework in this thematic area for over a decade. It produced several legal assessments on draft laws addressing similar issue: in 2012 (CELGR/LEX 3/2012), in 2016 (CELGR/LEX(2016)4rev), in 2018 (CELGR/LEX(2018)1) and in 2022 (CEGG/LEX(2022)1).
The draft law, as one of the decentralisation reform priorities, was touched upon within the Round Table discussion in Kyiv on 18 April 2023 dedicated to good democratic governance in Ukraine (as a part of the High-Level Dialogue “Good Democratic Governance in Ukraine: achievements, challenges and the way forward in the post-war period”) and a public presentation of the draft law on 19 April 2023.
Many of the Council of Europe recommendations laid out in Opinion of 2022 were implemented by the Parliament.
The CEGG within its Programme “Strengthening Good Democratic Governance and Resilience in Ukraine” will continue promoting the remaining recommendations to implement them by introducing amendments to other legislation, by-laws to the law after it enters into force and methodological guidance to local authorities.
This assistance is provided by CEGG within its Programme “Strengthening Good Democratic Governance and Resilience in Ukraine” implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recover and Reconstruction” (2023-2026).
