LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM IN POLAND AS A LESSON FOR UKRAINE FOR THE POST-WAR PERIOD

Abstract

The war has reduced the intensity of the discourse on decentralization reform in Ukraine, but recent events and statements suggest that this reform will continue, particularly in the political context.
 The purpose of the article is to analyze the local self-government reform in Poland in order to highlight those aspects that were not resolved in Ukraine at the time and will accordingly appear on the agenda in the post-war period.
 The analysis of decentralization in Poland shows that the reform is not limited to a change in the administrative and territorial structure, but is a complex process. In addition, it is a long-term process and involves the implementation of certain measures in other spheres of public administration, in particular with the aim of overcoming shortcomings that were inherent or were not taken into account during the administrative-territorial reform. First of all, this concerns the financial and budgetary sphere, the democratization of local government, the sphere of education, etc.
 Extracting the lessons of the Polish reform for Ukraine, it is possible to hypothesize that in the post-war period, during the resuscitation of the decentralization policy, the following areas of reform will be relevant: the financial and budgetary sphere, the introduction of a system of local taxes based on the principle of "one tax – one level of management"; the administrative-territorial system, namely the presence of state administration bodies at the district level and consolidation of the regional division of the country; political governance at the local, district, and regional levels, namely, the activation of civil society, the introduction of new democratic institutions, and the strengthening of transparency and accountability of local authorities; education etc.
 At the same time, the implementation of these and other directions is impossible without the creation of a political prerequisite – a "unified political headquarter" of the reform, namely the achievement of a consensus of the most influential political forces regarding the principles and directions of the reform. This also follows from the experience of decentralization in Poland.