The Council of Europe has put forward its demands on Ukraine. The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Andres Knapé, spoke about them.
He wrote a letter to the fresh Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and the Minister of Development of Communities and Territories Denis Shmigal. In it, he expressed support for the decentralization processes that are taking place in Ukraine. But this is not enough: he demanded that these norms be enshrined in the Constitution.
“In Ukraine, significant legislative and constitutional changes are needed to complete the long-term decentralization and local government reform,” Knape wrote.
His appeal was published on the official website of the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe noted that the changes will have to take into account the interests of all parties and must comply with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
The Council of Europe will check in March how Kiev is doing this. Representatives of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will come to Ukraine.