MinRegion intends to submit the draft law, reducing the number of measures and streamlining the system of state supervision and control over the activities of local self-government, for approval already in September, said Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, during a consultation meeting on legislative regulation of the issue of observance of lawfulness of local self-government activities and streamlining of the system of state supervision (control) over the activities of local self-government bodies.

"We have chosen a very democratic way of resolving the issue of state supervision over the lawfulness of local self-government decisions. We take into account the opinions of leading international and Ukrainian experts, MPs, specialised associations and hromadas themselves. Our stance is open and sincere and we want it from everyone, especially from specialised associations. We undertook to draft a draft law together, so constructive work should be done, and its result is a European approach to state supervision. We need to fill the vacuum on this issue with you, otherwise it can be done without asking us," noted Vyacheslav Nehoda.

According to him, by the end of August, experts will complete analysing the current system of state control over the lawfulness of decisions of local self-government bodies and will offer the way it can be arranged.

"We have already come to preliminary conclusions that the number of controlling bodies should decrease and they should not unreasonably interfere with the work of local self-government bodies – terminate or cancel their decisions. They also agreed that there will be only administrative supervision over the fulfillment of part of the powers of local self-government bodies, and only with regard to their lawfulness, but in no case their expediency or effectiveness. In addition, local self-government bodies will be able to receive constant consultations and support from the state, but their decisions should become more transparent," said the First Deputy Minister.

"The state is obliged to control the lawfulness of hromadas’ decisions. This is a European practice. And this system should be as clear as possible. It is better when general supervision is carried out by one body instead of ten or twenty. When there many participants and there is no single system, we get chaos in state institutions, helplessness and insecurity of local self-government," said Robert Herzog, Professor of the University of Strasbourg, expert of the Council of Europe, during the discussion.

Daniel Popescu, Head of the Democratic Governance Department, Council of Europe, agrees with this viewpoint: "The regional branches of the single supervisory body should be small, flexible and have a single goal of monitoring the lawfulness and not making decisions for hromadas.”

"There is no need to immediately seek compromises to satisfy everyone. It will nip the matter in the bud. We need to propose an optimal, effective model of state supervision that can help local self-government and strengthen the state in general, and only then compromise," said Georg Milbrandt, Special Envoy of the German Government for the Ukrainian reforms.

"We see progress in draft law preparation. Its philosophy, title and analysis testify to the fact that we have advanced on this topic," said Oleksandr Slobozhan, executive director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

Earlier, Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, stated that the development and adoption of the necessary law in the field of state supervision will allow moving faster towards the implementation of decentralisation.