The number of counties will be reduced by four times in the process of decentralization of power in Ukraine

The president failed to introduce to the parliament the amendments to the Constitution before the announced deadline. The MPs will be considering the text not earlier than in July. Under the working version of the new edition of the Constitution Petro Poroshenko plans to reinforce his influence on SBU and PGO and also eliminate oblast administration. At that, the reform of the local self-government will follow the scenario of the medical reform of the previous government.

Additional forces

Amendments to the Constitution, which the president promised to introduce to the parliament this week, will be considered by the deputies not earlier than in June, Deputy Chair of the VR Committee for State Building and Local Self-Government Natalia Novak (UDAR) told Capital. “The committee will be considering the constitutional issue at a meeting on Wednesday, July 2, in order to then introduce it to the session hall,” said Novak. Despite the promises of the president, the draft of the new Constitution has not been submitted to the Rada this week, she said, adding, “Some preliminary documents were given out to the faction leaders, but officially nothing came,” noted Novak.

Capital’s source in the Batkivshchyna faction said that on Monday after its meeting with the president faction leaders received draft amendments to the Constitution. However, they were not officially submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. «The document consists of two parts. The first was strongly criticized, because on the sly of the military conflict Poroshenko decided to grant himself more power,» said the source, noting that former premier Yulia Tymoshenko urged the faction to not agree to support such changes.

MPs believe that the president is seeking to expand his powers. In compliance with the proposed changes, the president will not be obliged to obtain the consent of the parliament for the dismissal of heads of the SBU, the NBU and the PGO. It was also proposed to empower the president to appoint and dismiss the management of national committees and state regulators, the right for which was previously vested to the VR. Noteworthy is that the last plenary week of the current session of the parliament of Ukraine is scheduled for July 8 — 11, meaning that MPs will have a week to pass the amendments to the Constitution in the first reading in order that they are legalized by the next session of parliament this fall.

Based on the scenario of the Ministry of Healthcare

Capital’s source in the Presidential Administration (PA) said that after faction leaders received copies of amendments to the Constitution the PA continues its work on the principal law. The source says that the decentralization of power has been practically agreed to with the VR and its experts. «These government studies have already been coordinated,» he added.

So, it has been proposed to eliminate oblast and county administrations, whose powers will be given to executive committees in local councils, which will also be in charge of local budgets and taxes.

Instead of the oblast state administrations (OSA) the position of a presidential representative will be introduced. They will oversee observance of the Constitution and legislation by local authorities and coordinate the work of the regional administrations of the central government. The presidential representatives will be empowered to revoke decisions of local executive committees that contradict the law through judicial procedures.

Administrative and territorial structures will also undergo changes. Instead of oblasts there will be regions and counties will be enlarged by mergers of local communities. Anatoliy Tkachuk, adviser to Vice Premier Volodymyr Groisman, who was involved in drafting of the new Constitution, said the amendments will make it possible to reduce the number of counties from the current 490 to 100 — 150. Sparsely populated areas will be merged based on the principle of medical districts and regional centers will be appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers. «Medical districts will include areas with a population of at least 150,000, which is a minority. New delimitation will take place after their merger,» he explained.

As a reminder, the Cabinet has launched a pilot project of health reform in the Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Donetsk oblasts, for which it created new administrative and territorial units called medical districts. All counties with a population of less than 150,000 were joined to form districts and towns with the most advanced medical infrastructure were chosen as their centers.

Deputy Chair of the Association of Ukrainian Cities Myroslav Pitsyk says at the moment approximately 12,000 village councils are not fulfilling their duties, though they still represent the government. «The agglomeration of counties will provide the rural population access to the urban infrastructure and will give towns enough space for territorial development,» he said.

Former head of the Kyiv Oblast State Administration Yevhen Zhovtyak says the changes proposed by the president are a European practice of local community development, which complies with the European Charter of Local Self-Government. In particular, such system is used in the work of prefectures in France. But the source predicts that these changes will only have a genuine effect after the local elections scheduled for October 2015.