Arseniy Yatsenyuk: “I am ready to be your mediator, initiator of changes to the legislation, just define priorities”

That is how the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada summed up a frank talk about painful moments. And it took place at the consultative-advisory conference with participation of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic Crimea, regional heads, heads of Sevastopol city councils, Kiev city head, heads of cities of regional centers. Inviting to the talk the heads of self-governing societies of different levels, the Chairman of parliament outlined the theme of meeting:

– Before every adoption of the Law of Ukraine about the State budget the matter concerns decentralization, necessity to pass financial resource to place, but in practice the reverse processes take place. I think the problem is not in the Law about the State budget, but in common absence of system and clear approach to local self-government.

 

 

Victor PYNZENYK,

minister of finance of Ukraine:

 

The task of the financial providing of the Military Powers of Ukraine stands before the government. With the entry of Ukraine in WTO and possible acceptance of law concerning taxation in accordance with WTO requirements we need a reaction of budget on additional support of village – about 1,4 milliard hryvnyas per year. Today Ministry of finance is not ready to give social operation factors to the budget, their clarification, as there is still no eventual variant of prognosis.

The problem of housing and communal services is to be taken into account in a budget in connection with the possible price change on public utilities for the population.

 

“To make agreements between government and regions”

 

The program of social and economic development of Ukraine for 2008 today is only being developed – there is no ready product yet. And also we still do not have the prepared indexes of social and economic development so that they could already go, say, in a budget.

 

 

What do we have?

Anatoliy BLYZNYUK,

chairman of the Donetsk regional board,

co-ordinator of heads of regional boards:

 

Presently local budgets are characterized by that they have the insignificant part of their own profits which the organs of power can handle taking into account priorities of development. And this part diminishes from year to year. The role of community taxes and takings has been almost brought to nothing: their specific gravity in the profits of general fund of Donetsk region budget has reduced to one percent this year.

 

 

Is it better worse, if only a different?

 

Mykola FEDORCHUK,

Chernivtsi city chairman:

 

Every next change confirms the proverb “It is better worse, if only a different”. The changes to the legislation about tender purchases are given by the same authors, but with different accompanying documents from either Secretariat or some committee.

 

 

 

If extractions did not exceed growth of profits

 

Ivan KULICHENKO,

Dnipropetrovsk

city chairman,

president of Association of cities and communities of Ukraine:

 

– Associations like ours exist in almost all European countries. Changes to the legislation about local self-government have to be confirmed with them, and in countries, where they keep to the European charter of local self-government, associations have the right of initiation of bill.

 

 

In the role of petitioner

 

Mykola SKORYK,

chairman of the Odessa regional soviet:

 

– Present system of budget formation forces a local leader to his knees, he appears in the role of petitioner from the central organs of power and more precisely from the Ministry of finance. That is why I would like to pay attention to correlation between taxes, which on the whole are collected at administrative and territorial institutions, and the size of local budgets.

 

 

To give the special status to the cities that will provide championship

 

Oleksandr OMELCHENKO,

chairman of the Committee of the VR of Ukraine on questions of state building and local  self-government:

 

It is marked in the program of activity of government that only the development of local self-government makes the development of regions and state on the whole possible. In 2007 the part of wages in local budgets was 76 percent. In the project of budget-2008 – 79. Is any development possible under such conditions? Of course, no.

 

 

People are not taken to the hospital from a village in time, they simply die

 

Grygoriy ZABOLOTNYI, chairman of Vinnytsya regional board:

 

The quality of school education in villages worries a lot. That is why I’m convinced: basic schools have to be formed and the program “School bus” has to be introduced.

And the last: “first-aid” for rural locality. People are not taken to the hospital from a village in time, they simply die. If we do really want to support social policy, then exactly there we will send money.

 

 

Elections have to be majority

 

Myroslav SENYK,

chairman of Lviv regional board:

 

The projects of changes, which are presently brought to the law about local self-government, roughly violate the European charter and the Constitution of Ukraine. Basic principle of relations between public and local self-government authorities is that the organs of local self-government are not the part of the system of state executive authority. The state does not manage the organs of local self-government, but contributes to their development.

 

 

Money is invested in order to attract an investor

 

Victor ANUSHKEVYCHUS,

city chairman of Ivano-Frankivsk:

 

– If we speak particularly about providing of the financially delegated plenary powers, then actually either let the state take itself these delegated plenary powers and finance them completely or let it do some concrete changes. And that is up to the so called formula calculation, then it is beneath criticism, especially financing of medicine, culture and sport.