By the end of 2017, almost half of all hromadas of the country will be amalgamated on a voluntary basis. It is a real chance not only to change the administrative-territorial system, but also to create new parity relations between the state and the capable hromadas. This was stated by the people's deputy of Ukraine Olena Boyko in her blog.

According to her, the reform of local self-government is reasonably recognised as one of the most successful reforms in Ukraine. The departure from the inefficient Soviet model of public administration was indispensable, as far as prior to the reform about 5 thousand out of 12 thousand hromadas were by 70% subsidised, and fifty of them were subsidised by 90%. Reduced, poor communities fully depended on central government, were not able to fulfill their own authority, provide high-quality public services. Of course, this did not contribute to the development of the local economy.

“What do we have now? Infrastructure renovation, new jobs, new quality of public services, prospect of new investments and development of local economy. There was an increase in personal revenues of local budgets by about 30% compared to the last year, revenues from the main group of taxes increased, the share of local budgets in the consolidated budget increased (from 45,6% in 2015 up to the current 49,3%), the share of capital expenditures of local budgets increased (by 15%) – and this is about the development of territories, infrastructure, etc. Therefore, the success of the reform launched by Yatsenyuk's government in 2014 is recognised, because hromadas are becoming really capable and self-sufficient.”

The deputy noted that during the last plenary week, important “decentralisation” draft laws were voted on in the first reading, namely draft laws No 6403 on spatial planning and No 6466, in order to simplify the procedure of AH around cities of oblast significance. The first project is the first step towards fulfilling the promise of transferring land outside settlements to the jurisdiction of the AH, since draft law No 6403 is a prevention of misuse, simplifies the spatial planning procedures, and is an effective mechanism for balanced urban development and efficient use of land resources.

“We will continue to defend the interests of local self-government, primarily during the review of the 2018 Budget. I believe that the launched reform will be implemented in full,” said Olena Boyko.