The role of decentralization for regional development in Ukraine
Regional policy is a special type of state policy and is implemented at three levels: it is implemented by central (national) authorities in relation to individual regions (regions); on sub-national regional policy is carried out by regional (local) authorities and management in relation to smaller territories (up to some settlements-cities, villages, settlements located in the territory of a specific region (district) of the country); In interstate (international) regional policy, interstate institutions operating within regional integration associations (such as the European Parliament).
According to the Decree of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine has now been instructed to prepare a draft State Strategy for Regional Development by 2020 in accordance with the standards of the European Union.
According to the Decree of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine has now been instructed to prepare a draft State Strategy for Regional Development by 2020 in accordance with the standards of the European Union. Increasing the role of regional policy in the functioning of the Ukrainian state, the gradual transition from short -term to medium -term planning in the field of regional development, increasing requirements for further decentralization in the resource provision of regional development – all this requires improvement of management in the field of regional development. The importance of strategic planning as a lever for direct state influence on the processes of sustainable reproduction of regional systems is increasing at the present stage of reforming the regional development system.
Strategic planning of regional development was started in Ukraine in 2006 – since the adoption of one of the most important tools for strategic planning in Ukraine – the State Regional Development Strategy for the period up to 2015. The Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional state administrations developed regional development strategies in order to ensure the implementation of the State Strategy of Regional Development by 2015, as well as the reconciliation of long -term national priorities of regional development with realistic strategic areas of regional development at the local level.
However, regional development shows a number of problems at the present stage. The analysis of the current institutional and legal field of Ukraine in the field of ensuring a stable balanced regional development allows to identify systemic problems that hinder the process of reforming state administration of regional development. At least, regional development shows a number of problems at the present stage. The analysis of the current institutional and legal field of Ukraine in the field of ensuring a stable balanced regional development allows to identify systemic problems that hinder the process of reforming public administration of regional development. The imperfection of institutional and legal support creates real obstacles to the formation of strategic orientations of regional development. The general model of the organization of power at the regional level, normalized in the Constitution of Ukraine, implementing certain European principles of regional self -government (Articles 5 and 132), does not fully meet the principles and provisions of the main European document on these issues – the Charter.
The main among these discrepancies are the following:
- the regional level (region, district) is under the administration of the central level of public administration, since the Constitution of Ukraine, and therefore, in the legislation in general, there is no provision on the existence of an executive body in the district and regional councils;
- The status of the legal personality of the regions, the representation of their own local (local) interests, the status of regional self -government is not determined (this is confirmed by the edition of part four of Article 140 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which states that regional councils (as well as district) are local self -government bodies and territories.
- The issue of conducting an independent external audit of local budgets in accordance with the requirements of Art. 18 of the Limsk Declaration of Government Principles of Audit of State Finance, adopted by Intosai (International Organization of Higher Financial Control Bodies), which has been a member since 1998. The Accounting Chamber of Ukraine has been.
According to the specified norm of external audit, the efficiency of public finances and the efficiency of public authorities and local self -government is an exclusive prerogative of the higher body of public finance control. The possibility of administrative control over the implementation of local budgets in the part of delegated powers by the higher state control body is not excluded in Art. 8 Charter. However, in Ukraine, the activity of the Accounting Chamber provides for control only over the use of funds of the State Budget of Ukraine (Article 98 of the Constitution of Ukraine). Among the most significant risks and obvious obstacles to reforming the system of public administration of regional development are the spread of corruption. According to the results of the UN General Assembly, corruption was identified as an illegal receipt by a civil servant of personal or collective benefit, as well as abuse of office in Havan. There are many definitions of corruption that in one way or another reflect the individual components of this multidimensional phenomenon. However, they indicate the tendency of an official with discretionary powers to use official opportunities for illegal personal enrichment.
The scale of corruption in Ukraine has not decreased for a long time despite anti -corruption measures taken at different levels of state power. Corruption relations destroy the principles of publicity and public trust in the authorities, including local and regional. In the system of public administration of regional development, corruption manifestations exist in the formation of budget policy, in the implementation of public procurement or the definition of executors of orders financed from the state or local budget, etc. Under similar conditions, corruption at the regional level de facto plays the function of parallel (shadow) public administration. As a result of the negative impact of corruption, the business climate is disrupted, the principles of market competition are distorted, the principles of transparency of privatization of state property are violated, the development of entrepreneurship is hampered. A high level of corruption at the regional level is a systematic problem of socio-economic development of Ukrainian regions (along with the inertia of survival through the help of “budget to budget” and the dominance of “patching holes” tactics over long-term policy of development of their region).
Entrepreneurship and the public at the regional level are increasingly faced with the mechanisms of reproduction of circular bail, in which local officials, tax and customs authorities cover each other. Corruption actions are often accompanied by the activities of the Bureau of Technical Inventory, Fire Inspections, SES, Customs, Tax Inspectorate and other state institutions, which are endowed with control and inspection and permits, have the competence to check (regulation) of business activity. In the institutional economy, the emergence of corruption is associated with a high “price of subjugation of the Law”: it is about monetary and alternative expenses of economic entities related to strict compliance with the legislation. Therefore, if the official “price of subjugation of the law” is higher than the cost of corruption, then corruption will develop at a rapid pace. Thus, the most effective way to overcome corruption is to introduce regulatory measures, simplify permits, along with the gradual transfer of most of the management functions to the regional local level and bringing national legislation to the standards of democratic countries.
Ukraine has repeatedly considered ideas for promoting regional and local development in Ukraine in accordance with the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self -Government and within the Concept of Good Governance. The main principles of the dominant system of “good governance” in Europe are to ensure openness, participation, responsibility, efficiency and consistency in making management decisions. In Ukrainian realities, this involves the approaching management to people, their direct participation in various forms of local and regional management, replacement of relations on the principle of “head -citizen” with relations of the type “provider of services – client”. Within the framework of corruption policy, the concept is linked to the reform of the civil service system and is aimed at establishing barriers to the priority of personal interests over public. World practice shows that such principles are most effective in countries with a decentralized management system.
Administrative-territorial reform in Ukraine at the present stage sets new tasks in this area to realize the potential of individual regions, conditions of their sustainable development on the basis of unity and integrity of the state territory, the combination of centralization and decentralization in the exercise of state power. Therefore, a clear understanding of decentralization is theoretical and applied importance, because it will allow to properly study theoretical foundations and the relevant practical experience of this process, to determine the directions and prospects of its implementation in the conditions of Ukrainian reality. Decentralization in general form is a way of territorial organization of power in which the state transfers the right to decision -making on certain issues or in a certain area of local or regional structures that are not part of the executive power and are relatively independent of it. Decentralization often refers to the redistribution of power and the amount of competence between central and local levels of organization of public power with a shift of emphasis to the local level regarding the implementation of functions predefined and guaranteed by the state. It is defined as one of the key principles for the development of democracy in the countries of the European Union and the Council of Europe, the basis of their regional policy. The consolidation of powers by local self -government bodies is carried out on the principle of “tasks that can be successfully performed at the lowest level of management (for example, at the level of municipalities), should be carried out there, whereas for the task that is outside the small municipality, regional governing bodies should be corresponded to. Important for the optimization of state power is the limitation of the range of its power prerogatives, which in modern literature is defined as “functions of general cases” (the most general directions of development and ensuring the normal life of the state). After all, great damage to society can be caused by the excessive concentration of the executive power that is most hierarchical, related to the organization of management at all levels of public authority.
It is the regional level of public authority that is the main beneficiary from the decentralization of public power in a unitary state. In addition to regulatory registration, the regional level of public authority of a decentralized unitary state acquires the specific status of the territorial community, whose population claims for a set of rights and obligations inherent in the population of the territorial community, in particular, the right to local (regional) self -government. In many countries, one of the main motives for decentralization is the best prospects for local development. This is fully true of Ukraine. Development, of course, is possible without decentralization, but the advantage of strong local self -government bodies in a more effective management, which has been discussed earlier, contributes to the improvement of local and regional development projects. Local self -government can eliminate institutional and legal obstacles and encourage innovative forms of solving local problems. Development measures with the participation of citizens allow to plan activities in accordance with the specific needs of the local population. The local and regional development today is an integral part of the activities of local authorities and territorial system in the countries of the European Union. The introduction of decentralization, creation and strengthening of relevant institutions at the regional level is mainly part of the process. Since the EU attaches great importance to regional policy, it is important for candidate countries to move in this direction and adapt its legislation in accordance with the components of the regional approach.
World experience shows that most citizens are ready to contribute to local projects (programs, strategies) when they can participate in decision -making and feel that the project improves specific living conditions. Allowing local communities to determine how to plan a particular development program, local governments thus strengthen their sense of ownership and responsibility for the project. It also creates the personal interest of a particular citizen in the successful completion of the program. Therefore, citizens will spend more time and resources to achieve the goals of the project, which in turn will help to achieve better results than in the case where decisions on the program’s measures are made by the distant central government. Local self -government bodies can make the development more sustainable through direct involvement of citizens in the implementation of projects. The ability to participate in the planning of projects (programs, strategies) in the early stages, in turn, encourages the local population to properly control and protect the results of projects. The main purpose of decentralization of powers and responsibility in European countries is to provide regular public services and the introduction of strategic local development, which will improve the quality of services and local standards of life. The transfer of individual powers to the local level will improve the decision -making process and priority determination, the quantity, quality and cost of services according to the preferences of local users of services.
The first steps towards improving public services are related to the distribution of powers and areas of responsibility between different levels of management. This becomes possible only when clearly defined functions and powers are transferred from one level of power to another, especially from the central government to local governments. For successful reform actions, decentralization of functions must occur along with the transfer of sufficient financial resources and property to ensure the implementation of quality and affordable services by local self -government bodies. When financial resources are provided to local governments, they can generate their own income by setting and collecting taxes and fees for services rendered, following the principles of compensation for the cost of services. The necessary funds are also created through effective management of communal property and the free part of the budget, which depends entirely on the decision made by the local government. Self -sufficiency and autonomy of budget expenditures for the distribution of local services enables local self -government bodies to provide quality and affordable public services in accordance with the needs and priorities of their citizens. They regulate the process of providing services, based on short- and long-term strategic planning, incl. in the field of regional development. In recent years, the actual crisis of the state of almost all spheres of socio -economic life of Ukraine has been traced, and this testifies to the low efficiency of government management. The crisis of public administration, in particular regional development, many scientists and practitioners is explained by a number of shortcomings of the management process itself. One of them is related to the intertwining of the functions of different branches of government at different levels of management, and therefore, when modeling or analyzing management bodies, one of the central problems is the ratio of centralization and decentralization in hierarchical structures. The inability of excessive centralization was evidenced by the history of the twentieth century. Historically, the centralization system has revealed the limits of its efficiency, which are determined by the inflexibility of centralized systems, the dominance of the relations of domination, violence, suppression, finally, the tendency to degenerate centralism into dictatorial, authoritarian and totalitarian political regimes.
If the managed only performance remains, and only all management functions for executives, then management is highly centralized. If the management is limited to the goal setting for their subordinates, and planning the achievement of goals, control of intermediate results leaves at their discretion, then there is already a tendency to decentralize management. And the more management functions are delegated to performers, the higher the degree of decentralization of management. Excessive centralization cannot be effective due to the complex differentiation of the interests and needs of different parts of the state. The possibilities of effective state influence on social processes, even with the best intentions, are rather limited, and the state is not able to solve all the problems that citizens face. The high degree of centralization of regional and local project management usually has a negative impact on investing attracting, leads to a loss of opportunity to respond in a timely and qualitatively to the needs of regions and cities and to facilitate them with the necessary resources. Centralization is only useful within certain limits, and they also change depending on what specifically the service is. Only practice will allow many test experiments to determine the formula with the least percentage of harm. ” And excessive decentralization cannot be effective due to the real intertwining of socio -economic problems that arise both vertically and horizontally. Insufficient management can be as destructive as excessive. The ratio of centralization and decentralization in the field of management is not a combination of two components, where an increase in one element causes a decrease in another. The dialectical relationship between them is complex. If you follow a certain optimum, the deviation from it in determining the weight of one element will violate and the functioning of another.
The system has system properties that cannot be found in its elements. It is impossible to predict the properties of the system as a whole, disassembling and analyzing it in parts. The only way to identify and study these properties is to make the whole system work. It is the synergistic approach that is optimal in the normalization and improvement of the state of government. In the process of creating a new decentralized management system of the necessary element is the combination of national, regional and local interests, taking into account the local specificity of socio -economic, political and cultural development. The management of regional development is a difficult task: to solve both differentiated and integration problems at the same time. The effectiveness of decision -making decentralization is directly dependent on the differentiation of interests. Socio -economic differentiation of a highly developed society involves the intertwining of the interests of different strata of society as a result of social exchange. The more active social exchange, the more diverse interests and needs that are articulated by different social groups. It is necessary to find a rational correlation between the activities of different levels of government for timely, complete and quality provision of the population with services. The leading tendency in modern models of public administration is a clear distribution of spheres of activity, functions and responsibility between different levels of government. This avoids conflicts and the translation of responsibility between hierarchical levels in public administration. In the economic sense, decentralization is caused by recognition more rational than in the past, to use public resources. In order to promote the process of decentralization, strengthen local self -government and create a favorable environment for broad public participation in planning, implementation and evaluation of development results, institutional structures of regional development are created in some countries, which are a key component of national policy.
For example, in the Czech Republic there is a Ministry of Regional Development. In Estonia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a responsible ministry, and the Ministry of Economy in Poland. In Romania, the special ministry is absent, and the development of the regions is governed by the Council of Ministers’ reform. In most Central and Eastern European countries, there are national agencies on regional development as executive agencies that assist the relevant ministry as relatively independent institutions. In Romania, they have legally defined functions and are non -profit public non -profit organizations. In Poland and the Czech Republic of Regional Development Agency, they are non -governmental organizations with the involvement of state institutions operating as profitable associations, or as non -profit organizations (funds in Poland, Association in the Czech Republic). At the present stage in Ukraine, the primary task is to preserve the unitary state system of Ukraine with simultaneous decentralization – an important component of optimization of the system of public authorities and local self -government. Therefore, the decisive in the conditions of democratization of Ukrainian society, European integration is its implementation in accordance with existing international standards and needs of man, the transformation of the system of power and territorial organization. Excessive strengthening of central power is the path to centralism, and separatism and destruction of statehood can result from the boundless independence of regions. Hence the task for science and practice is to find and provide such mechanisms that would maintain the optimal relationship between different levels of government, ensure the territorial integrity, unity of the state and the desire of regions to realize their own potential, provide relevant services to the population and to implement the strategies of regional development as effectively as possible.
