The All-Ukrainian Association of Communities participated in a roundtable discussion on “Intermunicipal Cooperation in Times of Martial Law” and presented proposals regarding the need to improve the law on cooperation between territorial communities, taking into account the interests of communities across Ukraine.
Currently, there are two specific proposals that require regulatory adjustment to enhance the activity and development of territories.
Firstly, it is important to streamline the procedures for establishing territorial cooperation between communities in the presence of force majeure circumstances. This includes situations arising from legislative or regulatory decisions mandatory for all subjects throughout Ukraine or its parts, as well as those caused by natural disasters, military actions, or other sudden events necessitating community cooperation.
Secondly, legislative attention is needed for cooperation between communities in areas affected by armed conflict or temporary occupation.
Under current law, communities must undergo a certain procedure to initiate cooperation, including convening sessions of one council to initiate the process, holding sessions of another council to adopt specific proposals, conducting joint commission meetings to develop a cooperation agreement project, and subsequent approval sessions for the proposed agreement by each council. Considering all these steps, communities may spend approximately 5-6 months on such work, which is impractical under these circumstances.
In defined circumstances, it is necessary to develop simplified and flexible models for concluding cooperation agreements by expanding the existing regulatory framework governing community cooperation.
The All-Ukrainian Association of Communities will continue to work on their implementation going forward.
It’s worth noting that the roundtable “Intermunicipal Cooperation in Times of Martial Law” was held in cooperation with the USAID DOBRE Program and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine on April 26 to discuss relevant legislative issues regarding community cooperation.