The 14th European Economic Congress (EEC) is being held in Katowice. Among the main topics of the event is the war in Ukraine. The EEC’s guests include European politicians and representatives of the Polish economy-related ministries, as well as representatives of the business community, from the world’s largest corporations to smaller private companies that have been building the potential of the Polish and European economies.

Ukraine was represented at the EEC meeting by Viacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territorial Development. He took part in the panel discussion titled Local Authorities for Ukraine. His key thesis is that “local self-government plays an important role in strengthening statehood and its defence capabilities”. The Deputy Minister argued that the municipalities that were formed during the reform of local self-government based on the principle of decentralisation of power today, during the war, show a high level of organisation and management skills.

“Thanks to the fact that we have decentralised in time, empowered our municipalities and strengthened them with resources, today they show incredible cases of the organisation of the defence system, complex logistics to provide their communities with necessities and essential services. Some municipalities are repairing utility networks even under shelling to provide the population with water, gas and electricity. Kharkiv, which the Russian army has not stopped bombing since the beginning of the war, is planting flowers and trees in the city. Individuals and representatives of the local self-government show incredible courage and endurance and make every effort to defeat the enemy. Today, Ukraine is more united than ever,” said Viacheslav Nehoda.

He expressed gratitude on behalf of the Ministry of Regional Development of Poland and Polish local self-government for the strong support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

“We are grateful to our Polish partners. In a short space of time, you have managed to receive and provide assistance to almost three million Ukrainian refugees. We understand what a great burden this is on the infrastructure of your cities, towns and villages, what an increase in local governance tasks. And yet, under these difficult conditions, you have not left anyone behind, while also providing great humanitarian and technical support to the municipalities of Ukraine. Without this support, it would be much more difficult for us to cope with the challenges of forced migration and beyond. This proves that local self-government plays an extremely important role in strengthening the state and its defence capabilities. There is no alternative to strong local self-government,” said the Deputy Minister.

Participants in the discussion sought solutions to the issues such as providing Ukrainian citizens that have been forced to flee to Poland with employment, supporting employers, providing enough places in kindergartens and schools, providing enough teachers with Ukrainian language skills, helping Ukrainian women and children, who comprise the majority of the refugees, with socialisation.