Constitutional amendments on decentralization needed to avoid risks to reform - Zubko

Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of decentralization are important for ensuring the irreversibility of a decentralization reform.

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister - Minister for Regional Development Hennadiy Zubko said this at a press conference "Reforms NON-STOP. The Scale of Changes" in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"There are risks, because without changes to the Constitution the budget 2020 can bring everything back. There are united communities. So what? Changes to the Budget Code and the Budget may reduce their powers or reduce the resources they have," Zubko said, answering a question about the risks to reform after the election in Ukraine.

Zubko stressed the importance of enshrining the norms in the Constitution of Ukraine that local governments have executive power, and the state has to maintain supervision.

As reported, on January 23, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman presented an updated action plan to continue decentralization. A new wave of the decentralization reform should last 600 days, starting from January 2019.