Decentralisation in Ukraine is a series of reforms to give additional power and resources to
local authorities. This process was intended to advance
regional development and
border
Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...
reform. Successful steps have been taken.
Angela Merkel,
Georg Milbradt and Hugues Mingarelli praised the reforms. In opinion of financial experts
PhD Yevhen Marynchak decentralizing
public funds of
territorial communities, the
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
should use real instruments that can help create a strong
regional economy on the territory.
Reforms
The decentralization reform had the following provisions:
* Strengthen
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state.
Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
;
* Change
administrative-territorial structure;
* Consolidate the “principle of
omnipresence” (
local governments are defined by lands on the territory of
settlements);
*
Empower local government with sufficient powers and resources;
* Reflect historical,
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
,
environmental and
cultural
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
characteristics when planning the development of
United territorial communities;
* Transfer roles that local governments can perform to
local authorities;
The reform consists of three key components:
*
Reform
Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
of the territorial organisation of
power
* Reform of local
self-government
Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...
* Reform of
regional policy
History
After Ukraine
gained independence in 1991, the state increased local/regional government powers. In 1997 Ukraine ratified the
European Charter of Local Self-Government, and adopted regulatory acts that established such powers. However, discussions concerning larger scale organisation as a rule concerned the distribution of powers at the national level.
Following
Euromaidan
Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...
in 2014, the
new government launched a national project "Decentralisation" (
Ukrainian: Національний проект "Децентралізація"), on 1 April. The
government of Volodymyr Groysman identified support for decentralisation as one of its priorities.
Results
During the reform, local budget revenues grew from ₴68.6 billion in 2014 to ₴146.6 billion in 2016. By the end of 2017, local budget revenues had reached ₴170.7 billion. In addition,
amalgamated hromadas became more active in the process of budget formation: during the first 10 months of 2017, amalgamated hromadas increased their own revenues by 80%, while national revenues grew by only 31.8%. In addition, ''
per capita
''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person".
Social statistics
The term is used in a wide variety of social science, social sciences and statistical research conte ...
'' development expenditures in January-September 2017 increased by 225% compared to 2016 (for example: in communities without amalgamated hromada, growth was only 50%).
From 2014 to 2017, state support for the development of amalgamated hromadas and their infrastructure increased from ₴0.5 billion up to ₴14.9 billion.
International support
Donor agencies, embassies and multilateral organisations are financing and implementing programs and decentralization projects via a Donor Board.
The following projects and organisations are very active:
Programme – multi-donor action of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
and its Member States
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, implemented by
GIZ (German
development agency) and
Sida (
agency of the
Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
* DESPRO – Swiss-Ukrainian Project, funded by the
Swiss Confederation through
SDC and implemented by Skat
*
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance.
Established in 19 ...
-funde
DOBRE program
* Joint
UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
/
EU Project – “Community Based Approach to Local Development”
References
{{reflist
See also
Official website of the reform
Decentralization
Local government in Ukraine
Administrative divisions of Ukraine