On July 1, President Petro Poroshenko made public the draft amendments to Ukraine’s Constitution, regarding decentralization of the country’s administrative-territorial system (Kyiv Post, July 1). The amendments redefine the relationship between Ukraine’s central government and the administrative-territorial units on three levels (province, district, community), devolving competencies from the higher to the lower levels. The changes are subject to parliamentary approval, which is anticipated by late August, ahead of the campaign for country-wide local elections.
A working group within the Constitutional Commission under the Verkhovna Rada’s (national parliament) chairman Volodymyr Hroysman drafted these amendments. The Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation