Decentralization processes in Poland and Hungary as a reference point for Ukraine

Abstract

Decentralization tends to expand the local self-government, it activates the population to meet their own needs and interests, and it narrows the sphere of state influence on society.Each country has its own history of establishing the principles of building and developing specific self-governing bodies, their interaction with central authorities, and enshrines them in constitutions and relevant laws on local self-government. Poland actively launched administrative reform in relation to the functioning of the institute of local self-government after the fall of the communist regime, which resulted in a decentralized system of governance. Territorial self-government bodies can directly cooperate with the central government and, accordingly, influence it in the interests of society. In parallel with the implementation of the Decentralization Reform in 1997, the Constitutional Reform of local self-government also took place. The reform of Hungary’s local self-government system lasted from 1990 to 2011, and de- spite significant success, it still cannot be called complete.The main principle of this reform is that local governments should solve exclusively local issues and provide services of local significance, while other issues should be resolved only under the supervision of the central government. This does not quite correspond to the principle of decentralization of government bodies. In Ukraine, drastic changes in the system of local self-government began in 2014 with the change of government and the adoption by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of the Concept of reforming local self-government. The process of decentralization of power in Ukraine is multidimensional and covers the reorganization of the administrative-territorial structure of the state, changes in the system of public authorities, the distribution of functions and powers between them. On this path, it is important to rely not only on our own experience and traditions, but also to analyze decentralization reforms and regulations on the activities of local self-government bodies in neighboring countries and adapt to our realities what is already effective and mentally close to us. Keywords: decentralization, administrative and territorial reform, institute of local self-government, territorial communities.