The activities of the working group on local democracy and self -organization of the population have begun

On May 21, 2012, the first meeting of the working group on local democracy and self -organization of the population of the Coordination Council on the development of civil society (chairman – Sergey Chernov) was held at the premises of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.

The meeting of the working group was predominantly organizational. Much attention was paid to establishing the internal activity of the working group, improving communication between its members, coverage of information for the general public, etc.

The meeting also decided to expand the staff of the working group. It included 2 members of the Coordination Council on Civil Society Development, as well as 7 experts that were recommended for inclusion in the working group by public authorities and civil society institutions. Thus, the total composition of the working group has increased to 25 people, of which 11 are members of the Coordination Council, and the remaining 14 are experts who specialize in local democracy and self -organization.

However, the most important issue around which the main discussion was going on was the discussion and approval of the working group’s activity plan for the next period. It has been decided that its main activity will be focused on the next two questions:

– providing support in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the draft Law No. 7282 on a local referendum (I. Kogut was determined by the head of this thematic subgroup). The attendees supported the initiative of a member of the working group, the head of the subcommittee on state construction of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on State Construction and Local Self -Government V.Demchyshen, who proposed to raise the issue of creating a special working group with the involvement of representatives of the public in the next meeting of the profile committee;

– development and submission to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in accordance with the established procedure of the draft of the new version of the Law of Ukraine “On Bodies of Self -Organization of the Population” and the draft law, which will regulate the procedure for holding general meetings (conferences) of members of the territorial community at the place of residence (head of the thematic subgroup – O. Orlovsky. It is planned that the main activity in this area will be completed by July 1 this year. The prepared bills will be submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development for further submission through the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Separately, the working group spoke the situation around the draft Law No. 3654 on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine on the participation of the public in the formation and implementation of state policy, resolving issues of local importance. After all, since the adoption of this bill in the first reading, many other acts have been approved in Ukraine, which were largely aimed at solving the problems planned to regulate this law. On this basis, M. Lacibi, together with other members of the working group, was instructed to analyze the entire array of available information and inform the working group at the next meeting on approaches to its substantive filling in the preparation of the bill for the second reading.

A similar decision was made in relation to the issue of development and submission of the draft Law of Ukraine on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self -Government in Ukraine” on the obligation to adopt the statutes of territorial communities. According to individual members of the working group, this bill may restrict the rights of local self -government bodies. Therefore, it was decided to return to its discussion after a deeper study. In addition, the chairman of the working group of S. Chernnov was instructed to contact the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine for the purpose of obtaining the additional information necessary to develop further steps in relation to this draft law.

The next meeting of the working group on local democracy and self -organization of the population is planned to hold approximately on June 26, 2012.