Ukraine’s pre-war efforts to decentralise government and implement local self-government reforms will help to bolster its recovery and reconstruction and to drive forward its ambition to join the EU, an international workshop hosted by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) concluded last week.
The workshop was organized by the governments of Ukraine, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and gathered representatives of the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the European Commission and the OECD.
It was part of the preparations for next Ukraine Recovery Conference, which will be held jointly by the United Kingdom and Ukraine in London on 21 – 22 June. The previous conference was held in Lugano, Switzerland, in July 2022.
Among others the workshop underlined the importance of ensuring Ukraine's local and regional authorities have sources of revenue of their own (fiscal decentralisation) and the capacity and training needed to make effective use of national and international funding for reconstruction.
"In Ukraine just like in Switzerland, decentralisation is what brings decision-making closer to the people, thereby creating trust in the institutions, which is the most precious element of our democracies,” said Ambassador Andrea Studer, Deputy Director of the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency.
Switzerland is a federal state, made up of independent cantons and a large number of municipalities, and has been supporting Ukraine in implementing decentralisation reforms for years. “The reconstruction shall strengthen the autonomy of the local governments, uniting all communities in their common goal to rebuilding Ukraine,” she said.
“Ukraine has already done a tremendous work,” she replied to a question from The Brussels Times. “The legal basis already exists.” Niina Ratilainen, a Finnish local politician and co-president of CoR, said that the Committee strongly encourages Ukraine to continue the reform process.
There are good examples of local self-government also in federal and unitary states in the EU, for example Belgium, Spain, Germany and Sweden. Decentralisation and self-government on local and regional levels enhances democracy and enables minority groups to preserve their identity, language and culture.
Vitaliy Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and president of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, agreed. "One of the key advantages of decentralisation is the increase in the responsibility of local authorities to the community,” he said in a video-address to the workshop. Decentralisation in Ukraine can help to reduce bureaucracy and corruption but it needs to be built with a bottom-up approach.
According to the workshop, damage to physical infrastructure was estimated at over USD 114.5 billion by September 2022. Since then, much more has been destroyed by Russia’s relentless bombardment of civilian infrastructure.
Not only local infrastructure has been destroyed by the war but also local capacity. Andreas Schaal, Director at Global Relations Centre, OECD, expressed his strong belief in the resilience of the Ukrainian people. “We’ll see both centralisation and decentralisation in the reconstruction,” he said. Because of the war, the central government will play a crucial role but all reconstruction will be done locally.
He referred to OECD’s study from December 2022 on Rebuilding Ukraine by Reinforcing Regional and Municipal Governance. The report presents an in-depth analysis of Ukraine’s progress in implementing its multi-level governance reforms and explores the role of subnational governments in disaster management.
“The municipalities need to be involved in the planning process,” the Swiss ambassador said. “The donors will insist on it.”
Anna Jarosz-Friis, director for Ukraine Service in the Commission’s directorate for neighbourhood and enlargement, underlined that while implementation requires local capacity, the planning process, where the local needs are articulated, is extremely important and needs to be transparent.
Has Ukraine already put in place all the legal framework for local self-government/decentralisation in line with European standards?
“Since the outset of its decentralisation reform in 2014, Ukraine has achieved some impressive results,” a Commission spokesperson replied. “A crucial step was achieved in 2020 by merging over 10,000 small local entities into 1470 municipalities (“hromadas”) with increased administrative and economic capacity to manage their responsibilities.”
This reform was further underpinned by fiscal decentralisation. Nevertheless, other essential reforms, such as a clearer delineation of competences between the central and local level, and introduction of a proportionate oversight of local self-government are yet to be put in place.
Has the issue of Russian and other minority languages been finally resolved?
In December 2022, the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Law on National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine aiming to align Ukraine‘s national minority legislation with international and European standards and best practices.
The European Commission is now waiting to receive the Opinion of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, scheduled to be released on 9 or 10 June on the Law on National Minorities (Communities).
As previously reported, the Commission will provide its formal assessment of the law in the context of the Enlargement report, which will be issued in autumn 2023. Oliver Várhelyi, Commissioner in charge of enlargement, stressed recently the importance of resolving the remaining issues relating to the use of minority languages. He even called on the minority groups to lobby for Ukraine’s EU membership.
The spokesperson noted that that there is no existing EU acquis in this field of decentralisation. The binding framework in this area is the Council of Europe European Charter of Local Self-government, which has been ratified by Ukraine.
In the enlargement context, the EU looks at the decentralisation reform in Ukraine as an important element of ‘good governance’, the spokesperson explained. “Effective multi-level governance can help candidate countries meet the requirements of the Copenhagen criteria and it is thus also a part of the Commission assessment under our annual enlargement reports.”
How would you describe the outcome of the workshop and its main conclusions?
The workshop showed a crucial role that the Ukrainian municipalities play in the resilience of the country, and in standing up to the Russian aggressor through very practical measures: mobilising popular support, re-setting basic social services, helping organise voluntary territorial defence, receiving large numbers of internally displaced persons.
Moreover, it demonstrated the importance of further progress in decentralisation reforms for effective multi-level governance. Finally, it showcased the need to capitalise on the achievements of the decentralisation reform which should translate into an inclusive engagement of municipalities in the recovery of the country.
“As the President, Ursula von der Leyen, put it on previous occasions, the Ukrainian regions and municipalities are also economic powerhouses which are necessary for tapping into Ukraine's human capital, to accelerate the green and the digital transition, and to facilitate private investment across the country.”
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
