On Monday during the extended Conciliatory Council meeting on local self-government issues, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman presented key points of reforming system of governance.
"A key reform is the reform of local self-government. I am sure that if we do not create a proper system of state governance where local self-government is the basis, we are unlikely to implement sectoral reforms both economic and humanitarian", claimed the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada. He said this reform stipulates subsidiarity, ubiquity of local self-government, financial self-sufficiency of communities, increasing their capacity, and responsibility of local self-government bodies.
In his words, budget for the current year was formed according to a new basis with the account of amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes.
The Chairperson of the Parliament claimed that pilot projects on cooperation and uniting communities require implementation.
In the spring of 2015, it is necessary to adopt the first package of legislative acts on the basis of local self-government and to finally approve the bill, which was adopted in the first reading, on voluntary uniting of territorial communities. By autumn we need to adopt and enforce the whole package of laws on the basis of local self-government. He also stressed the necessity to increase institutional capacity of communities.
"The key stand is to implement the constitutional reform by autumn, at least in the part of decentralization of government", claimed Volodymyr Groysman, adding that in October local elections on a new basis should be held.
Volodymyr Groysman reminded that during his work in the Government, the Revival Plan for 2015-2017 was elaborated which, among other things, stipulates a reform of the government system.
Firstly, it stipulates systematic changes at all levels of state governance and in all components of this system in order to ensure "full-fledged levels of governance", "to build a new efficient system of governance where the bases are a community, a region, an oblast". Also Volodymyr Groysman stressed the importance to ensure quality human resources of the system of government authorities and to introduce new European standards of their work.
The Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine emphasized the importance of implementing reform of regional policy, system of administrative services, state service, and introducing e-governance. Volodymyr Groysman believes this will ensure a new quality of services and settle the problems of citizens efficiently; it will also ensure an opportunity of a community to directly influence all the decisions, a "client-oriented approach" of the government; it will activate economic life in regions and ensure their dynamic and well-balanced development.
Summing up, Volodymyr Groysman suggested discussing issues on amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes, bills that need to be adopted in order to ensure strengthening positions of local self-government, and jointly forming a plan of legislative work in the part of decentralization.