Ihor Koliushko on the formation of a new administrative-territorial structure
Ihor Koliushko shared his opinion on the formation of a new administrative and territorial structure and powers of the LSGs.
In the latest issue of the talk show "U-LEAD: Approaching Services" Ihor Koliushko, Chairman of the Board of the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, shared his opinion on the formation of a new administrative and territorial structure and powers of the LSGs.
About the project of the new territorial and administrative structure of Ukraine
According to the new division, more than half of the regions have close to the optimal number of districts.
However, there are regions where the number of districts is large: for example, there are seven districts in Crimea, there are also additional mountainous districts in Zakarpatska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts, there are too many districts in the part of Polyssia in Chernihiv oblast, there is a smaller division into districts in Kyrovohrad and Luhansk oblasts due to the need for greater accessibility.
However, there are also imbalances in the other direction. For example, it was finally agreed that Ternopil should be divided into three districts instead of four, and Kharkiv oblast should consist of four districts instead of seven. This approach is extremely risky, as it can lead to unmanageability or weak manageability.
However, in our situation it is better to approve an imperfect new district division than none. The latter can be a real disaster for the entire reform and further development of local self-government.
On the importance of approving a new administrative-territorial structure
District division is important for the organization of the activities of territorial subdivisions of the central executive authorities (police departments, tax service, various inspections). All of them must function from the new district level, which has influenced one of the requirements of the division, the optimal number of population of 200-250 thousand people.
About prefects
Now there is a kind of political consensus that after the amendments to the Constitution, prefects will be introduced instead of local state administrations. One of their tasks is to ensure legality in the activities of local self-government. Logically, to perform this task efficiently, districts should not be too big, the optimal number is 10-15 communities.
Controlling and ensuring legality means not only ceasing acts of local government, but also acting in a preventive manner, for example, explaining how to apply new laws.
Moreover, Vyacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Vitalii Bezhyn, MP, Oleksandr Korenoy, Head of the Board of the Association of Territorial Communities, New Ukrainian Mayor, Liliya Leshkovych, Legal Advisor to the U-LEAD with Europe Program, expressed their opinion.
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