26 January 2016, 20:10
The decentralization reform in Ukraine can never be stopped.
Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman has told this to the Pershyi Natsionalnyi [First National] TV channel.
"We will move forward. We will develop the communities, create better mechanisms to unify territorial communities. We will enhance their financial provision," Groysman said asked if there was any decentralization plan for the case the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine fails to support respective amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine.
The Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada noted that the constitutional amendments envision a number of positive provisions, in particular, comprehensiveness of local self-government, election of executive committees at the level of districts and regions, increase of financial provision of local territorial communities. "These amendments will surely enshrine an opportunity to further develop the communities in Ukraine," he noted.
Groysman said that the local self-government reform had already received certain steps to be supported.
Besides, he said that the financial decentralization had also proved its success. "Local budgets grew considerably. It allows further development or settlement of the issues at the local level," the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada said.
At the same time, Groysman noted that the local self-government reform is complex and thus, requires long-time and amendments to hundreds of laws. The Chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament called on the politicians to united around the idea of decentralization and find mutual understanding in disputable questions.