POLISH AND UKRAINIAN LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT REFORMS (1998 – 2020): HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a comparative analysis of the Polish and Ukrainian reforms of local self-government and sinlingling out the most significant European practices useful for Ukraine. The research methodology is based on the principles of systematicity, dialectics, reliability, a concrete and historical approach, logic. General scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative, structural and functional, generalization, special methods of interview and content analysis have been used. The scientific novelty consists in the analysis of development peculiarities of local self-government bodies of the Republic of Poland in comparison with the Ukrainian realities, and the most relevant European practices for modern Ukraine have been suggested, which must be taken into account when establishing self-governing institutions under the conditions of power decentralization. The Conclusion. The structure and conceptual approaches in the organization of local self-government of the Republic of Poland have been studied, and information on self-government various branches operating in this country has been collected by means of interview and observation methods; it has been clarified how self-government branches became the most important provider of public services for their citizens, an important partner of international investments. It has been confirmed that the Polish commune truly became a school of democratic governance and contributed to development of civil society structures. The foundations of a close cooperation between the sołtys administration of Grobniki village, Głubszyce gmina and Nekhvoroshchanska community of Poltava region of Ukraine have been laid.

The achievements and problems accompanying the reboot of local government in Ukraine during decentralization have been outlined. Chief focus is on the possibility of introducing certain elements of the Polish experience into a domestic practice of self-governing institutions in order to increase efficiency of their functioning. In particular, it is about ensuring a full autonomous control by self-governing bodies over the sources of their own revenues and having the right to make decisions regarding their distribution, application of equalization principle of local budgets, creation of joint firms, associations with entities that carry out their activities within the framework of self-governing territories, involvement of population in local affairs management, election of officials at all levels of local self-government and, first of all, in the Ukrainian starosty districts, that are part of territorial communities, establishment of mutually beneficial partnership cooperation with international and domestic investors.

The European choice of Ukraine, which has gone through certain historical stages of democratization and formation of a civil society, contributes to realization of such tasks. It is the European choice that provides various opportunities for improving activities of local self-government bodies, their interaction with power structures at all levels of management and population, establishing constructive cooperation and dialogue with all interested institutions. That is why, the Polish model of a local government organization, which is built on the principles of subsidiarity, deconcentration, consensus, combining efforts of the state and self-governing units, effective legislative and legal regulation, deserves analysis and study. After all, a positive balance of transformations and changes that took place in this country really deserves not only a chief focus, but also implementation expediency in the Ukrainian practice, which gives reason to look at a further development and improvement of national self-government with optimism.

Key words: Ukraine, the Republic of Poland, sołtys administration, gmina, county, voivodship,
decentralization, local self-government, subsidiarity, the Polish model, European integration.