Chairperson of Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government Serhii Vlasenko takes part in ceremony dedicated to 30th anniversary of opening for signature of European Charter of Local Self-Government and 20th anniversary of Ukraine's membership in Council of Europe

Information Department
16 December 2015, 12:22




The event was organized by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine in the framework of the project "Promoting Local Democracy in Ukraine" and the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2015 - 2017.
During the ceremony the attention was focused on the Ukrainian experience in implementing the principles of the Charter and local self-government reform in Ukraine.
The Committee Chairperson in his speech stressed that the European Charter of Local Self-Government is the base document, laying down the fundamental principles of local and regional democracy, which was ratified by all democratic countries of Europe. At that S.Vlasenko pointed to remarkable achievements of the Ukrainian Parliament over the past two years toPalatnyis the application of these principles in Ukrainian laws. In particular, in the Laws of Ukraine "On cooperation of territorial communities," "On voluntary unification of territorial communities," and in a number of laws, regulating the transfer of powers from central bodies of executive power to local self-government bodies.
The Committee Chairperson said that the reform in the direction specified in the Charter, has only started, and on this path they should expect many challenges connected with new approaches to the settling of certain processes in the unified territorial communities. Serhii Vlasenko said: "When deputies of local councils elected on October 25, will be ready for the appropriate transformations (especially of themselves) - only then we can say that the reform has started working."
The Chairperson of the Committee said he hoped to see next year "a story of Ukraine's success and stories of success of territorial communities." According to the parliamentarian, the success will be when communities feel the improvement following their unification, and the country understands that the unification "despite all the difficulties, is the only right way."
The Chairperson of the Committee pointed to the importance of the assistance of European countries that had completed their path in the direction of reforms, and accumulated invaluable experience. "Programs of the Council of Europe are very important for Ukraine, and also expert evaluation of the processes of local self-government reform. Ukraine should attentively listen to such advices, quickly respond to detected mistakes and eliminate them," said S. Vlasenko. The Chairperson of the Committee said that the Committee will continue to be open for cooperation with the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, and with any local community, and is ready to contribute to spreading of best practices concerning settling the problems of local self-government.
In the end of his speech Serhii Vlasenko said that he believes in the story of success of local self-government in Ukraine, and its prospects, and noted that exactly the local self-government "will become the engine that will drag Ukraine out and finally put it at the level of the best countries of Europe."
Also during the event delivered their speeches Ambassador Vladimir Ristovski, Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in charge of the co-ordination of the co-operation programmes in Ukraine; Anders Knape, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities and Vice-President of the Congress; and First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine V.Nehoda.