Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to change the Constitution to give the president and prime minister more control over local authorities. He submitted a draft bill with his amendments to the parliament on Dec. 13.
Although Zelensky’s party, Servant of the People, holds the majority in the parliament (248 lawmakers), he needs at least 300 votes to change the Constitution.
The parliament plans to send the legislation to the Constitutional Court on Dec. 20, deputy head of the Servant of the People faction Oleksandr Korniyenko told journalists.
The president’s office said in an explanatory note that these constitutional changes are aimed at the decentralization of power and giving more governance rights to communities in accordance with the Council of Europe’s charter of local self-government.
However, a number of opposition lawmakers have spoken against the amendments claiming they would consolidate more power over local authorities in the hands of Zelensky, who already controls the majority in the parliament and the government.
Here are the key changes to the Constitution proposed by Zelensky:
Change of administrative structure and local governance
Ukraine began a decentralization reform in 2014 as a move to give more autonomy and economic freedom to the local authorities. Since then residents of villages and towns have been able to unite into the so-called amalgamated territorial communities, or hromadas, in Ukrainian.
According to the Constitution, forming a hromada is a voluntary right of Ukrainian citizens to make their own decisions over local needs such as street lighting or school renovation.
The amendments make hromada the basis for local governance. Several adjacent villages, towns, and cities will gain the status of hromadas.
Several adjacent hromadas will form an okrug, or a large district. Current rayons (also translated as district) will cease to exist as administrative units.
Currently, heads of hromadas, towns, and cities and members of local councils serve for five years. Zelensky’s amendments will cut their term of service to four years. The term of service of heads of okrugs and oblast councils will be limited to one year.
Hromadas will be able to manage land, property, and natural resources in the communal ownership as well as local taxes, part of the state taxes and other revenues of the local budgets.
Russian-occupied territories
Currently occupied by Russia, Crimea will remain an autonomous republic within Ukraine.
However, its largest city and home to the Russian Black Sea fleet, Sevastopol will be stripped of special status.
The changes also remove names of oblasts from the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet of Ministers will be able to propose to the parliament creating and changing borders of hromadas, okrugs, and oblasts as well as renaming villages, cities, and oblasts. This means that 226 votes of lawmakers will be enough to rename or change borders of oblasts.
There is no mention of the future of the occupied parts of the Donbas which were promised self-governance status under certain conditions such as complete withdrawal of any military groups and free elections under Ukrainian law and OSCE observation.
Last week, parliament voted to extend for another year a law that would eventually grant self-governance status to the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts currently controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
Prefects instead of state administrations
Zelensky’s bill replaces state administrations with “local bodies of the central government” and governors with prefects.
Prefects will administer okrugs, oblasts, and Kyiv city for no more than three years but will have more power than governors. They will be appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers and the president and de-facto represent them.
Prefects’ main responsibility will be “administrative oversight” over local authorities. Prefects’ decrees and orders will be mandatory unless blocked by the president.
They will be able to recommend the president to block any decision passed by hromada, okrug, and oblast councils if those decisions are deemed to be unconstitutional or pose a threat to national security.
The president also gains the right to suspend the head of any hromada and local councils of hromada, okrug or oblast upon recommendation of a prefect. In such cases, the president appoints an interim head.
Currently, governors are partially accountable to the local councils that can express their vote of a no-confidence and have a governor fired by the president. This rule is absent for prefects.
