Problems of mountainous territories in Ukraine are known, probably, by all. These are bad roads, worn-out and outdated infrastructure, poor access to education and healthcare services, migration, illegal deforestation, river pollution, floods and more...

It is not the first year that the Government, the Parliament and local authorities are thinking how to solve all these problems. During this time, many proposals have been accumulated, which can be divided into two groups:

1. strengthening of state guarantees,
2. creation of conditions for development and investment.

The first way is to strengthen the current support policy regarding mountainous areas.

MPs of the Verkhovna Rada of the last convocation registered the bill No 6439-D on strengthening state guarantees for mountainous and highland settlements. It envisaged a 25% increase in salaries for medical, educational and budget workers, and a 50% increase for highlanders. It was also planned to increase pensions, scholarships, financial aid for people living in mountainous areas by 20%, and by 40% - for the highland residents. In addition, the bill envisaged privileges for payment for electricity, quota for priority enrollment of youth from mountainosu areas in higher educational establishments and so on.

The second way is a gradual transition from social benefits to investment and support for small and medium-sized business.

The Verkhovna Rada of the last convocation was considering a governmental bill No 8154 on sustainable development and creation of jobs in mountainous and highland settlements. The authors of the draft law proposed to single out highland settlements within the mountainous settlements (mountainous – 400 m above sea level and higher, highland – 600 m and above), improve the calculations of medical and educational subventions, elaborate a state programme to stimulate the development of mountainous and highland settlements.

The two bills did not even reach the first reading, and were therefore withdrawn from the parliament. The content of new legislative initiatives depends a lot on the position of the President and the Government.

Fortunately, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the new Government have supported the second way of development of mountainous areas.

Regions have already submitted their proposals to the Programme, this document is expected to be considered by the Cabinet of Ministers. Then the Government plans to include the Programme in the draft State Budget for 2020.

The material is prepared within the “Sustainable development of the Ukrainian Carpathians” project.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE