On 17 July 2020 the Council of Europe supported coordination online meeting chaired by Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Vyacheslav Nehoda. The meeting was focused on legislative provision of decentralisation of powers and deconcentration of resources.
Four draft laws, published for public discussion, were discussed during the meeting:
- “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine” and Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Decentralisation and Division of Powers of Local Self-Government Authorities”;
- “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local State Administrations” and Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Decentralisation and Division of Powers of Local Self-Government Authorities and Local Executive Authorities”;
- “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding Enforcement of Tax Legislation in Connection with the Reform of Administrative and Territorial Structure”;
- “On Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine Regarding Financial Provision of Local Self-Government Authorities Competences”.
39 participants attended online meeting: representatives of the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils, Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities, Association of Ukrainian Cities, local self-government association of Kharkiv region and international technical assistance projects and programmes, which had provided proposals to the draft laws within the public discussion stage.
Online meeting resulted in consensus reached on the majority of the issues. On certain questions, such as legality of local self-government acts, the status of some elected officials, the additional consultations are continues.
According to Mr Nehoda, in nearest time the Ministry plans to conduct a series of public discussions on division of powers and resources, and in September – to submit the draft laws for consideration of the Verkhovna Rada.
The meeting was organised with the assistance of the Council of Europe Programme “Decentralisation and local government reform in Ukraine”.
