Ukraine has been undertaking a complex decentralisation reform process in the last years. Within this framework, the issue of legal personality of local governments has become one of the most debated topics, and in April 2021 the Specialised Parliamentary Committee on Local Self-Government requested that the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe provides support through the organisation of a number of thematic discussions, with the involvement of high-level national officials, such as MPs, Ministers, mayors, legal professionals, and experts.
On 8 October 2021, the first results of the work undertaken in collaboration with other international partners were presented to a wide audience of stakeholders, including members of the government and the parliament, representatives of local authorities and the judiciary.
In particular, the experts involved described the main issues related to legal personality at the local level in selected countries (Albania, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden), resumed in 13 different reports, including the responses collected among the members of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) through the mechanism of its Rapid Response Service.
The reports analyse, among other features, the nature of legal personality of local and central governments, the kind of legislation regulating it, the notion of “municipality”, the aspects related to bankruptcy, voluntary administration and liability, and possible issues related to territorial integrity and national security.
The event was opened by Vitaliy Bezhin and Andriy Klochko, Members of the Parliament, Oleksandr Yarema, State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers, and Vyacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development, who all praised the contribution of the Council of Europe to the reform process of local self-government in Ukraine during the last 20 years, and stressed the importance of the current endeavour in providing the basis for a constructive dialogue on the delicate issue of legal personality at local level.
Daniel Popescu, Head of Department of Democracy and Governance of the Council of Europe, reminded to the audience the different activities organised by the Centre of Expertise through the Programme “Enhancing decentralisation and public administration reform in Ukraine” in relation to this issue. By the end of the year, the Centre of Expertise will prepare a Policy Advice for the Ukrainian authorities based on the results of these discussions.
