The role of local self-government in reconstruction under martial law

Abstract

Today, the main threat to the security of the country in general and its regions and territorial communities in particular is still the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. This requires the concentration of efforts of state and local authorities, military administrations in this direction. Despite all the problems caused by the war, local self-government bodies respond to unforeseen challenges in a timely manner, ensuring the restoration of destroyed objects, providing services to the population, creating jobs for internally displaced persons, attracting investments, etc. The Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” defined the modes of functioning of local self-government bodies and their interaction with military administrations. During the war, military administrations perform the powers of local state administrations and, partially, local self-government bodies, defined by current legislation.The article analyzes the main measures to protect the population from possible emergency situations at the level of territorial communities. It is noted that local authorities are making efforts to restore destroyed housing, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, critical infrastructure facilities, etc. In the conditions of war, decentralization makes it possible to strengthen the potential of territorial communities, to strengthen the initiative of citizens in solving issues of social and economic development. On this path, the State Fund for Regional Development, international partnership between communities, new subventions, and additional sources of income for local budgets demonstrated their success. The article emphasizes that communities have shown their ability to effectively increase and manage the received financial resources. Despite this, the funds received from international donors and grants for the reconstruction of destroyed objects should be partially used to finance the country’s reconstruction projects.