On 19 November 2025, during the visit to Kyiv, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, President of the Chamber of Regions Ms Cecilia Dalman Eek, took part in a working meeting with the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils and the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine.
The discussion was focused on the draft Specificities of implementation of the concept for the decentralisation reform in the context of wartime challenges and preparation for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union as well as its action plan, and the division of competences between the state and local self-government and amongst their tiers.
“It is a great honour for me to be with you today. Decentralisation has become one of the pillars of Ukraine’s resilience, and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe fully supports your efforts to strengthen local democracy in line with the European Charter of Local Self-Government. We will continue to stand by you throughout your recovery, reconstruction and reform efforts,” underlined Ms Cecilia Dalman Eek.
Mr Oleksii RIABYKIN, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, stressed that, despite the full-scale war, Ukraine continues decentralisation reform in line with European standards: “In recent months, with the support of the Council of Europe, we have made significant progress: we have agreed approaches to division of competences between the state and local self-government and amongst their tiers and laid the foundations for completing the decentralisation reform”.
Ms Tetiana YEHOROVA-LUTSENKO, President of the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils, Chair of Kharkiv Regional Council, highlighted the importance of the subnational dimension of the reform: “Today’s meeting is crucial, because completing decentralisation is impossible without a clear model of governance at regional and sub-regional levels, without the delimitation of powers and adequate resources for all tiers of local self-government. This is a position from the territories, not from an office: decisions should be taken where people live and work and where they are particularly in need of support – in communities in frontline regions”.
The event was held within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine's recovery”, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
