Two of the committees are today in our focus:
Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government
The committee delegation is paying a get-to-know-you visit to the Kingdom of Spain.
They met with Juan Jose Gonzalez Rivas, the President of the Constitutional Court of Spain and the court administration staff who gave them a brief outline on the court and its history.
The Ukrainian delegates had also a Senate meeting with Juan Jose Lucas, the Head of the Constitutional Committee and the committee staff. The Spanish side delivered a short report on Spain’s experience in decentralization and backing up capable territorial communities; then the parties talked over expanding the mutual dialogue between Spain and Ukraine, further boosting inter-parliamentary ties, problems related to the Russian occupation of certain regions in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the armed annexation of the Crimea, and the recent developments in Catalonia. Juan Jose Lucas thanked the Ukrainian politicians for their standpoint about the Barcelona and Catalonia events, and in turn confirmed the Kingdom’s support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. The Ukrainian delegates then outlined the country’s major achievements in the education, medical, decentralization and other reforms which are in progress currently. The Head of the Constitutional Committee stressed there is a wide and close interest in the highest circles of Spain to the Ukrainian state of play, and he voiced then his hopes that the knowledge gained by the visitors would be successfully used in the lawmaking process.
The Director of the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies (SPCS) Benigno Pendas Garcia did a short review of the Center’s status, goals and powers for the Ukrainian delegates. The Ukrainian party also got to know of the Spain’s administrative and territorial structure, which takes 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities, 50 provinces and 8817 municipalities; the progress in the decentralization process factoring into local historic, geographic and economic peculiarities; the system of state and the ways the local lawmaking and executive branches function.
Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Communal Services
The committee shall have a field sitting on problems in delivering housing and utilities services in the ATO zone, which is to take place in Torets'k, Donetsk oblast on November 1-2. Avdiivka, Kostiantynivka, and Kramators'k are supposed to be visited too.
The event is anticipated to have
a wide discussion panel consisting of Members of Parliament, experts from the core
ministries, the UNICEF in Ukraine office, scientists and top managers of the related
water supply facilities.
The scope of issues to come under review embraces problems which are regular for cities with military-civil administrations, as for instance – overhaul and restoration of housing stock and public amenities damaged during the ATO actions, lack of water supply lines, heavy repairs of damaged heating and water supply facilities, etc.