Local Authorities are not Efficient Enough due to the Constitutional Model
"It stands to mention that Constitutional norms do not facilitate development of the local self-government system, moreover, they even restrict its progress", declared V. Lytvyn, asked about legislative regulation of the local self-government activity. He focused on the fact that under the Constitution, regional councils represent the interests of territorial communities of a respective district or region, but not their population. "Population of the district of the region is not recognized as a community, thus it has no right to self-government", V. Lytvyn emphasized.
According to the Head of the Parliament, further decentralization of power and development of the local self-government is hampered by the lack of resources in the regions (its material and financial basis) and uncertainty of the territorial principles of the local self-government. "Thus, the laws envisages existence of the communal property and local budgets, although implementation of the constitutional norms is rather complicated", V. Lytvyn explained. "Constitutional provisions regarding citizens´ right to administer communal property exist only in theory, since the respective law has not been adopted yet."
Discussing uncertainty of the territorial principles of the local self-government, V. Lytvyn suggested solving the problem by establishing a basic territorial entity, i.e. a community including the territory of a settlement and the adjacent lands.
"According to the Constitution of Ukraine, territorial system, its defined status, issues of its legal status, administrative-territorial entities, authorities of the bodies in charge of administrative-territorial issues are of national significance and shall be regulated exclusively by law", the Head of the Parliament emphasized. However, he deems necessary to amend the Constitution of Ukraine before the adopting the Law on administrative-territorial system in Ukraine to regulate the range of complex issues of the territorial administration in Ukraine.