"Now the main task facing the state is completion of the voluntary amalgamation stage," said Yuriy Hanushchak, expert of the Central Reform Office under MinRegion, during a two-day seminar with deputies of the oblast and rayon councils and heads of AHs, held at the Koblivska AH on the initiative of the Mykolayiv Local Government Development Centre, established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme and MinRegion.

"By the end of this year we will pass the one-thousand-AHs point. It is likely that the state will have to provide help from above to those hromadas, that have not eventually come to elections, in order to successfully complete the decentralisation reform in Ukraine. The Mykolayiv Oblast is moving at a normal pace in the context of the reform. There are both amalgamation processes, especially in the "one rayon – one hromada" format, and negotiations on accession between the already amalgamated hromadas. In general, processes have accelerated, there is a positive dynamics for change," said the expert.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE