It is urgent to make changes to the Constitution that should make decentralisation and its achievements irreversible, said Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv, head of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, at the XIV Ukrainian Municipal Forum. He also appealed to President Petro Poroshenko to promote accelerated consideration and adoption of the draft law “On the Principles of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine”.

“This, we hope, will provide conditions for the logical completion of the reform. Adoption of the new Law “On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies” is one of the currently burning issues. Its new draft was developed with the AUC’s participation and has been recently registered. It contains approaches that should ensure a new quality of our work for citizens,” Mr Klitschko said. “In addition, it will allow local authorities, depending on their capabilities, to identify attractive working conditions to engage the best specialists in work. The new Law “On Civil Service” has been in force for two years, and the delay in adopting a progressive local self-government law seems unjust,” the Mayor of Kyiv emphasised.

This year's municipal forum is devoted to the issues of local democracy, involvement of citizens in solving urgent problems and local development tasks.

According to the Mayor, Kyiv and whole Ukraine co-operate effectively in this area with many foreign partners, taking advantage of the best experience. In particular, the forum involves experts from Norway. According to Vitali Klitschko, the Norwegians have a positive experience in hromadas’ consolidation. Today, as the head of the AUC stressed, such processes take place in Ukraine, but they should be accelerated.

“Our cities, namely Kyiv, have almost 20 years of experience in the adoption and adherence to the statutes of hromadas. And today it is necessary to strengthen the role of statutes in the legal regulation of local democracy issues. Therefore, the draft law being developed by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Local Self-Government with our participation, is relevant. And we count on its promptest consideration and approval in the parliament,” said Vitali Klitschko.

He recalled that such instruments of local democracy as electronic petitions and public budgets have been implemented for several years. In Kyiv, for example, this year UAH 150 million are envisaged for the public budget. And there are many projects that were financed last year.

“We will continue to apply the best experience of developed democratic countries, the experience of our partners. But, I should note that we also have successes, which we are ready to share and spread,” said the head of the AUC. “In particular, I am convinced that there is a great prospect of further introduction of e-governance technologies.”

During the forum, the KYIV SMART CITY technological management system, introduced in Kyiv a few years ago and constantly improved, is being presented.