Ten local communities (hromadas) including Lviv City, representing 90% of the Lviv metropolitan area’s population, launched a new association “Lviv Agglomeration” as a platform for their future collaboration. During its inaugural meeting on 29 April 2024, Lviv City Mayor Andriy Sadovyi was elected as its President and Bibrka City Mayor Roman Hrynus as its co-President.

The new association was created with the help from the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, which had been supporting the development of metropolitan governance in Lviv Agglomeration since 2021. Through a diverse range of activities, the Centre helped the 18 constituent local communities to build trust and to design the common Development Strategy of Lviv Agglomeration endorsed in November 2023.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting, Congress Director Claudia Luciani congratulated Ukrainian partners on this important initiative, stressing that the right of local authorities to associate was guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. She wished the co-founders of the new association to use the opportunities offered by this platform for improving service delivery and governance across Lviv Agglomeration.

The Centre of Expertise will continue its advocacy to improve metropolitan governance in Ukraine, both by supporting the newly created association and facilitating the multi-lateral dialogue on legal framework in this area.

The activity was supported by the Programme “Strengthening Good Democratic Governance and Resilience in Ukraine”. This Programme is implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026 by the Centre of Expertise at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.