Vladimir Zelensky laid out a draft legislative act on an outward-looking window that, in combination with other bills, aims to show the West that democratic reforms in Ukraine are progressing. The law on decentralization, which the Verkhovna Rada should consider and approve, changes the management order in the horizontal of power, it would seem, introducing additional vertical elements into it. The fact is that the EU has repeatedly pointed out to Kiev that the current system of appointments from the center of regional governors is anachronistic, overly authoritarian and in no way consistent with European standards.
At the city level, the mechanism for electing the mayor has long been in place, but the regions still remain under the sole control of the president. Is Zelensky’s bill to parliament really mark a series of revolutionary changes? In fact, the situation in this area will change, said Petro Poroshenko. His administration has developed the legislative framework, which is now used by the new ruling team. And upon closer examination, it turns out that the new order is a trick, a dummy, designed to throw dust in the eyes of an outside observer.
Instead of governors, the head of state will appoint in the field of prefects with very limited authority. They will not be responsible for the whole range of social issues - economics, education, medicine, etc. All these problems will be the concern of the executive committees that will form the regional councils. This is the vertical element of the system that I mentioned above. All Ukrainian rulers, starting with the first president Leonid Kravchuk, were categorically against the emergence of executive power at the oblast level, as this made the local leadership more independent. Moreover, the Constitution of Ukraine enshrines the norm according to which regional budgets do not have their own sources of filling. They are formed exclusively due to financial transfers from the center.
In 2014, the Lugansk and Donetsk Regional Councils acted according to the scheme laid down in the draft law on decentralization, thus challenging Kiev. Having played on the traditional fears of central authority, they formed executive committees. Then it was a serious step towards sovereignty. However, now this innovation is virtually meaningless. Deputies of regional parliaments are a purely technical position. Under the current legislation, they cannot influence the political course of the country's leadership in any way; their legislative activity is tightly clamped in the framework of economic and social problems. The executive committees created by them will be able to work within the same borders.
If you look closely at Zelensky’s legislative initiative even more closely, another regrettable circumstance will appear on the surface. In fact, the presidential horizontal will be even strengthened.
The prefect is vested with the right to block the decisions of the regional parliaments, after which, on the basis of his veto, the president will be able to dissolve the regional council. This means that Kiev gets the opportunity to cross out the results of the local parliamentary elections, if desired. In addition, in the Constitution, a separate article included a complete list of all Ukrainian regions with an administrative-territorial structure and borders. After the adoption of the law, this constitutional norm will be eliminated. That is, the president will be able to change the structure of the regional government and move the borders in one direction or another.
By and large, nothing is changing in Ukraine. In appearance, democratic reform is a purely cosmetic measure that does not significantly affect the current state of things. The country remains constrained by a unitary hoop, which, in the opinion of all Zelensky’s predecessors, should impede the collapse of the state, but in reality it only helps. Multinational and multi-ethnic Ukraine could survive as a single whole only if the government decided to federalize.
In this case, territories that gained independence, which vary greatly in ethnic composition, value orientations, could each live in accordance with their own traditions. But now the western regions, which retain control over the political agenda, are breaking out their eastern hands, while the central ones are shy away in one direction or the other. The collapse process, which began with the exit of Donbass and the Crimea, is accelerated due to the chaos of the state and the weakness of the Zelensky team, whose decisions are sabotaged by officials at all administrative levels.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.