Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksiy Chernyshov met with President of the French Senate Gérard Larchet, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France in Kyiv Etienne de Ponsin and representatives of the Senate.

In particular, the parties discussed the results of decentralisation and its role in resisting Russian aggression.

“Decentralisation, implemented side by side with the European Union, taking into account the best practices of European countries, has become a powerful framework that has strengthened our hromadas. I want to emphasize that the French experience in this is very important for us,” said Oleksiy Chernyshov.

Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Nehoda reminded that the reform was based on the task of bringing services as close as possible to citizens, strengthening the capacity of municipalities.

“Residents of municipalities, local self-government bodies became very motivated and interested in local development. This made it possible to rapidly improve the quality of services, accelerate the growth of local budgets and stimulate the development of infrastructure. Unfortunately, the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation interrupted the opportunity to carry out the reforms that we had planned for this year. But I hope that we will have effective interaction with France, in particular in the search for an optimal model of the functioning of the system of local self-government and executive power,” said Vyacheslav Nehoda.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed proposals for direct cooperation between the French and Ukrainian municipalities.

The minister thanked for the powerful military and humanitarian support that France provides to Ukraine, for France’s leadership in the process of Ukraine obtaining the status of a candidate for EU membership, as well as for a frank and emotional position about Ukraine’s struggle for the ideas and values of the united Europe.