CoE/Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Congress Moderates Ukraine Competence Talks
On 12 June 2025, the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance (CEMG) at the Congress and Ukraine’s Ministry for Communities and Territories Development organised in Kyiv a “Strasbourg format” discussion on conceptual principles of the division of competences between the state and local self-government.
The meeting brought together senior representatives from key national institutions, including the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agrarian Policy, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Healthcare, Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, the State Tax Service, the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), the Presidential Office, and the leadership of four national associations of local and regional authorities, including two of their presidents.
Co-moderated by Daniel Popescu of the Congress Secretariat and Sören Herbst, Head of the Multi-Level Governance Unit of “U-LEAD with Europe” action of the European Union, the meeting focused on general principles of the division of competences, sectoral decentralisation, as well as financial and material resources of local self-government. Participants reached consensus on a wide range of issues regarding the fundamental principles of the future reform, and outlined next steps for its further development and implementation.
The “Strasbourg format” of the meeting is based on a methodology developed by the CEMG to support confidential, results-oriented dialogue among stakeholders, particularly on sensitive and complex governance reforms.
The event was organised within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery”, implemented by the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/congress-moderates-multilateral-talks-on-division-of-competences-in-ukraine