Serhiy Trofimov, First Deputy Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, presented the vision of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the necessity of amending the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of the local self-government reform.

During the public presentation of the amendments to the Basic Law and the Government's priorities regarding the local self-government reform in Kyiv, Serhiy Trofimov stressed that the reform of local self-government and its enshrining in the Constitution will enable people all over the country to improve their well-being.

“This means that public services need to become closer and that healthcare and education should be better and more accessible,” he explained.

The First Deputy Head of the Presidential Office noted that these constitutional amendments will be the end of decentralisation in Ukraine.

“We have often heard that reforms need to be painful and last a long time. The country now has a chance to complete decentralisation of powers under the new administrative and territorial structure, to show that reforms must be people-centric, can be implemented in clear and understandable terms, deliver concrete results,” said Serhiy Trofimov.

According to him, omnipresence of local self-government and its financial support, approach of all public services to people are an opportunity to be self-sufficient and responsible, develop their settlement, village or city.

“To be wealthy and create opportunities for the well-being of their children and their country,” said the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Office.

He stressed that amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of local self-government will enshrine these opportunities and make changes for the better for every Ukrainian irreversible.

“Empowering hromadas to address their livelihoods and have tools to tackle poverty is precisely the main task of completing the decentralisation reform," said Serhiy Trofimov.

That is why, he said, the President supports the amendments to the Constitution presented today, which are aimed at bringing the authorities closer to people.

In addition, this reform will ensure the full implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

 

 

As noted during the presentation, the draft amendments to the Basic Law are currently being worked out by the Commission on Legal Affairs under the President of Ukraine.

Among the main ideas are the introduction of a three-tier system of administrative and territorial structure (hromada-district-region), building of local self-government based on the principles of omnipresence and financial self-sufficiency. Hromada is the basis, a district that comprises hromadas is introduced instead of a rayon. Local administrations will be abolished, prefects will work at the district level, which will be civil servants and in fact represent the state. The basic principle is that hromadas have powers, and the country has a control function.

Along with these changes, draft laws related to decentralisation will be elaborated.

It is expected that the draft constitutional amendments will be forwarded to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine already at the current session of the Verkhovna Rada. If the Parliament supports the aforementioned changes, transition period is proposed to be provided for their implementation.