Ukraine urgently needs an inclusive and sustainable political settlement on which lasting peace can be built, and decentralisation remains a major part of it, said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland today in Strasbourg.
Speaking at the event “Decentralisation in Ukraine: Achievements and Perspectives”, he acknowledged the important steps that have been taken over the past two years, including the development of key legislation, progress in restructuring of local government in some 370 communities and the decentralisation of fiscal decision making which is under way.
Jagland pledged the Council of Europe’s continued support to the decentralisation process in order to ensure that the country’s laws fully comply with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. He also stressed the importance of giving decentralisation an inclusive, constitutional basis that would help the reconciliation process and help unite the country.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Hennadii Zubko expressed his gratitude for the support given by all Council of Europe institutions to the decentralisation in Ukraine, and said he hoped this theme will also be covered in the next Action plan for Ukraine for 2018 and beyond.
Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Andreas Kiefer; Sergiy Kyslytsya, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister for Regional Development, Building, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine; as well as Daniel Popescu, the Council of Europe Special Advisor to the Government of Ukraine on Decentralisation, were also among speakers at the event. It was organised upon the initiative of the Permanent Representation of Ukraine at the Council of Europe.
