Volodymyr Chubirko: “Decentralization in the country remains a promise”

This Monday, in Kyiv, in the Parliament, there was the meeting of the Advisory Council for Local Government. The participants discussed the state and ways of legislative and financial support of decentralization.

The event was attended by representatives of local governments at all levels, chairmen of the relevant parliamentary committees, members of the Cabinet of Ministers, Presidential Administration of Ukraine, the Ukrainian delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Councils of the European Council, experts on decentralization and territorial organization of government. The Transcarpathian Regional Council Chairman Volodymyr Chubirko also took part in the event.

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Groisman, addressing the meeting, emphasized the need for early reform of local government and decentralization of power.   

V.Groisman also said that the purpose of the meeting was to develop "the action plan of collaboration, which should lead to clear reforms in local government." He said that "the current system of local government must be to changed quickly, professionally and efficiently."

Volodymyr Chubirko took an active part in the discussion on amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes, bills that need to be passed to ensure strengthening of the position of local government. Also, in his view, a number of methodological issues related to the transfer of funds in the form of subsidies should be legally resolved.

Also the Chairman of the Transcarpathian Regional Council proposed to resolve the issue with the payment of tax on real estate. In our region, where most of the population lives in rural areas, this tax is a bit unfair, because farmers have to pay for outbuildings too.

Following the expanded meeting, National Associations of Local Self-Government adopted a number of recommendations:

by February 6, 2015, to prepare and to submit to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine agreed proposals for changes to the budget for the current year in terms of financial support for local governments;

to step up the activities in development of conclusions to draft laws and other legal acts on matters relating to local government and regional development, including decentralization of power and improvement of budget and tax legislation.