I am afraid that this idea of agglomeration of local units goes back to the mid-1990s. I gave a speech at a conference on municipal government in 1995 indicating that Ukraine needed to merge many of its local government units, as western europe had done. I also urged the government at that time to look at the Spanish model of defining local government responsibilities on an asymetrical basis depending on the population of the local units. In 2005, I edited and wrote the section of the UNDP National Human Development Report called "The Power of Decentralization" were we outlined the need for merging as well as defining functions of local units on an asymetrical basis. In 2010, I wrote a report under World Bank project again indicating that Ukraine needed to go to about 2000-2500 local government units, simplify the intergovernmental transfer system, and increase the own source revenues of the local governments, particularly the property tax. It seems things just take a little longer in Ukraine. But what a waste of time and resources that could have benefited the citizens of Ukraine.