Oleksiy Chernyshov, Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, commented on the “adequacy of the steps of decentralization reform” to the media.

This day, April 1, marks 8 years since Ukraine committed to reforming local self-government and territorial organisation of power as well as to decentralise powers of public authorities.

“You are asking whether the decentralisation has been an adequate measure. In fact, there is also an additional question hidden here, ‘whether it is right for the decentralisation to place emphasis on the Individual’ or ‘whether it was right to build a capable local self-government system that would handle all issues of local importance’. The answer is obvious. It is unfortunate that it is today, when the Russian army invaded Ukraine, that we can see the real results of decentralisation. Today, you can see the courageous war efforts of the municipalities, their strong leaders, their unity in the struggle for sovereignty, independence, freedom and democracy! You can see the efficiency of their decision-making, how they support the army and municipalities where battles are taking place today while building up their defences!” said the Minister.

Oleksiy Chernyshov sees the strength of local self-government as the result of adequate decentralisation measures.

“Municipalities united, at the same time receiving greater resource capacity, including personnel, financial, territorial, property resources; they gained freedom of decision-making. People chose the local self-government they trusted and jointly built development strategies, jointly determined the order of administrative measures in building their communities. And they greatly succeeded: hundreds and hundreds of new schools and kindergartens, hospitals, medical and obstetric care facilities, outpatient clinics, administrative service centres and security centres have been opened. You might often hear now that the Russian invaders, in their intercepted phone calls, are telling their relatives that ‘they live better than we do; they have paved roads in the villages’ and so on,” said Oleksiy Chernyshov.

He added that Ukrainians deserve a better life because they are a hard-working nation unafraid of change, a nation that got rid of the Soviet legacy in governance and began to build its future. Therefore, according to Oleksiy Chernyshov, it is no surprise that the invaders are shocked by this standard of living in Ukrainian municipalities.

“It is little wonder because these are Ukrainians, strong, determined and hard-working people who are always ready to take on any invader. Decentralisation has simply helped Ukrainian municipalities to show all their strength and creativity. I am glad that the reform proved to be successful during the war as well. Sceptics who criticised everything related to decentralisation have nothing to say today,” the Minister said.

He stressed that the state will definitely complete the reform in accordance with the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, among others.

As you might know, on 1 April 2014, the Government approved the Concept of Reforming Local Self-Government and Territorial Organisation of Power. In 2020, the state completed the first stage of the reform, and local elections were held according to the new territorial structure of municipalities and districts.