There is nowhere such a system of local self-government, under which, at the first session of the rayon or oblast council, after the local elections, powers are transferred to rayon administrations and oblast state administrations. And such a system is still functioning in Ukraine. This is inefficient and needs to be changed, said Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, during the forum in Dnipropetrovsk, “Decentralisation – Transformation of Modern Ukraine”.

In his speech Vyacheslav Nehoda addressed further steps to be taken in the context of the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power, based on the conceptual documents of the reform adopted in 2014.

He recalled that the reform is human-centric: there should be such a system of local management – both self-government and executive power, which can provide all the conditions necessary for the comfortable life and self-realisation of each person.

“We need not later than before the first half of 2020, after which the Parliament is on vacation until autumn, to adopt the last package of decisions on the administrative-territorial system of the country, consisting of 24 laws separately for each region, as well as legislation on local self-government, division of powers between self-government and local executive power. It is necessary to improve budget decentralisation and regulate land relations. We should do this, if we want our country to really develop,” said the First Deputy Minister.

Vyacheslav Nehoda expressed understanding that 2019 is expected to be politically complex, and important decisions for the country will be difficult to make. But, according to him, hromadas that are both the local self-government basis, and economic foundation of the country, all should have the same conditions for development – those that amalgamated, realising that they are the state, and those that cannot do this because of various reasons.

“The elections in 2020 should take place on a new territorial basis. By that time, not all will amalgamate voluntarily. The current situation cannot be left as it is. We need to make logical decisions. And the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in this sense can once again give a new impetus to the reform development,” said Vyacheslav Nehoda.

He emphasised the importance of standardising the system of state supervision over the decisions of local self-government bodies.

“Transferring powers to the local self-government level, the state also conveys responsibility. There must be tools that will ensure the proper level of this responsibility. Please note that today, in accordance with the current legislation, local state administrations have control over delegated powers from the state to local self-government bodies, and, in addition, there are many different inspections. Today it is more like a supervisory chaos. And there must be a reliable, well-organised system of supervision, that will protect both local governments from violations of the law, and citizens, who may face problems caused d by illegal decisions,” explained Vyacheslav Nehoda. To this end, he said, the drafting of the law, that will streamline the issue of state supervision over the decisions of local self-government bodies, is now underway.