IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COHERENT AND UNDERSTANDABLE REFORMS’ PROGRAM IN UKRAINE

Mr Denys ZAPYSNYY,

Ph.D. Researcher, Classical Private University (Zaporizhia, Ukraine)

Until now Ukraine is the only state of former Soviet Union which did not yet reach the indicators of the 1991 economy development. At the same time, Ukraine is one of the poorest of European countries, demonstrating slow economy development progress. Besides, Ukraine has one of the largest corruption indicator in the world. The local self-government has mostly declarative character, practically contradicting with the provisions of the European Charter for Local Self-Government.

But there’s always a solution demanding speedy and successful reforms with clear measurable indicators, accepted by Ukrainian citizens and international community. This will not only solve the existing internal problems, but also respond to the global challenges the entire world is facing (deadly diseases, large-scale ecological, anthropogenic and natural catastrophes, climate change, exhaustion of essential resources, instability and military conflicts, etc.) To successfully implement Ukrainian reforms the four core preconditions and main development directions could be suggested, as follows:

· Ending military conflict in the East of Ukraine and launching real (not declarative) peace building process in the country;

· Public administration reform, modernization of Ukrainian civil service in accordance with European standards [1];

· Setting up effective anti-corruption measures;

· Decentralization reform and development of local self-government in line with he principles of European Charter of local self-government;

It is important to stress, that the vast majority of European countries in the period of past 30 years successfully realized different local self-government reforms that enabled the sustainable development, necessary social and territorial cohesion [5]. The strong need to implement the decentralization reform in Ukraine is caused by the following factors: weak capacity of local self-government bodies (institutional, financial etc.) in exercising their basic functions defined by the Ukrainian Constitution [3]; overlapping of some competences of State bodies and local authorities on oblast (region), rayon (district) and hromada (basic) levels, inspired by the gaps in the national legislation; contradictive and archaic administrative-territorial organization of public power inherited from the Soviet period; devastated and nearly dilapidated municipal infrastructure, hampering the delivery of quality services; excessive centralization of power and elimination of Ukrainian citizens from decision-making process, low public trust towards authorities of all levels, etc. To resolve the existing problems the following measures could be applied:

1. To adopt amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine, in particular regarding creation of executive bodies of oblast (region) and rayon (district) councils, redistribution of competences between local self-government bodies and state administrations, in accordance with the principle of subsidiary;

2. To realise fiscal and budgetary decentralization in order to strengthen the financial capacity of local self-government bodies;

3. To develop different forms of local democracy and to promote different forms of citizens’ participation in local public life (social mobilisation, accountability, good governance, etc.);

4. To improve the existing system of administrative-territorial organization of power, in particular regarding optimization (reduction) of the number of the existing administrative-territorial units – hromadas of oblasts and rayons;

5. To modernize the municipal infrastructure and utilities, in particular, by the use of new technologies, attracting necessary investment and improvement of management [6].

Modernisation of civil service focusing on European principles of public administration [2] is essential for the whole reforms process, because it will define the quality of all departments’ work.

Currently, Ukrainian civil service is characterized by a number of challenges: high staff turnover, lack of professional skills and competences of the most of civil servants, low level of public trust for authorities, corruption, nepotism, low level of motivation of civil servants, etc. This reform should be focused on adoption of the new legislation and introducing fundamental changes in the practice of all public authorities [6]. It requires the following measures:

1. Delimitation of administrative and political positions within the civil service, as well as separating the spheres for application of principles and norms of the public and private law in order to distinguish civil service and normal labor activity.

2. The principally new classification of positions which will allow establishing a logical and transparent system for remuneration of labor, based on the principle of equal pay for equal work, and to overcome unfair inter-departmental and inter-regional gaps in the remuneration of civil servants.

3. Improvement of the remuneration system and increasing the salary of Ukrainian civil servants to decent level.

4. Featuring a merit-based approach to recruitment and promotion, securing stability of employment and guarantees against discretionary dismissal.

5. Application of competences’ profile for the civil service positions (“fiche de competences”) and competence-based approach for evaluation of the civil servants’ professional activity.

6. Delivering the tools of human resources’ strategic management, development of leadership qualities in the civil service.

7. To increase professional competences of civil servants it will be necessary to establish new and innovative approaches to the education of the civil servants as well as to strengthen the National academy of public administration under the President of Ukraine.

As it was stressed by John E.McLaughlin in his article for the Magazine of the Institute for 21^st Century, now we are in an era of transition in the international system [4]. Paul Kennedy of Yale University has called this era the gap between strategic epochs. What that means is that we are at a moment when the rules and structure of international relations are not crystal clear.

In this regard and in order to respond to its these and other internal and external challenges, Ukraine has to implement very ambitious reforms’ programme. At the same time, this reforms’ reform should not be perceived as threat by states neighbouring Ukraine. For this, it is necessary to conduct professional awareness campaign inside and outside the country. It should be mostly focused on the modernisation of the Ukrainian State, development of the democracy and good governance standards on central as well as on regional and local levels.

Literature, other informational sources:

1. Official web-site of the President of Ukraine: www.president.gov.ua 

2. Official web-site of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service: www.nads.gov.ua 

3. Official web-site of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: www.rada.gov.ua 

4. Official web-site of the Institute for 21^st Century: www.i21cq.com/

5. Tolkovanov V. Mise en oeuvre du nouveau systeme de l’autonomie locale en Ukraine (These de doctorat). – Strasbourg, Universite III Robert Schuman, 2006. – 405 p.

6. Tolkovanov V. Tools for ensuring good governance standrads on local and regional levels (PhD in Public Administration). – Zaporizhya, 2013, 417 p.