Associations of communities was discussed at the meeting in the RSA (PHOTO)

At the initiative of the head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration Vasyl Hubal, on Tuesday, May 5, a meeting with the participation of heads of districts and cities of the region, regional services and departments took place in the Regional State Administration office. The first item on the agenda was the discussion of the voluntary associations of communities – under the law passed by the Verkhovna Rada, the country faces administrative reform. One of the first steps is the "reformatting" of local communities. In order to interact with local governments and to coordinate the processes related to voluntary associations of communities and decentralization of power, the Office for Reforms has been opened in Transcarpathian region.

The head of the region presented its manager – Ivan Demianchuk. The office will run for four months and will be dealing with issues of administrative reform. One of the main tasks is to keep contact with people on the ground and to clarify prospects of the reform, including the fact that communities will have more leverage to address their own development issues. There is a lot of work ahead, the head of the region stressed. "Unfortunately, not all village heads and village deputies understand what reform involves and how it will be implemented. Also certain local leaders fear that they will lose their seats. But we must not think about it, we must think about community development and the opportunities they are given by these changes", – Vasyl Hubal said, also pointing out that this reform does not mean "elimination" of villages or any steps that may be harmful to communities and that specific features of the region should be taken into account. "We must start this process – there is the law, and we are working in the new realities. The realities that give new opportunities, particularly in the area of fiscal decentralization", – the head of the RSA said, the press service informs.