scholarly journals SUBREGIONAL LEVEL OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND TERRITORIAL REFORM IN UKRAINE: DEBATABLE ASPECTS

Author(s):  
M. Baranovskyi

Reforming the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine within the process of decentralization has a number of unresolved issues. The second stage of the reform related to the formation of administrative and territorial units of the subregional level has now begun. The plan of 136 new districts approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine provoked a lively discussion both in the regions and in the expert community. The study analyses the approaches of scholars to the creation of administrative units of the subregional level in Ukraine in order to switch to a three-level model of territorial division. The article provides the arguments for and against the creation of new administrative and territorial units of the subregional level in Ukraine. The existence de facto in Ukraine of a number of inter-district territorial systems in various spheres – education, medicine, tax service – has been proved. Based on the analysis of quantitative criteria, written in the methodology for the creation of new districts, it was defined that they met the NUTS-3 level of the territorial division standard of the European Union countries. A comparative analysis of schemes for dividing the country into districts, which were developed by different Governments of Ukraine, and the network of districts approved by the Verkhovna Rada in 2020 was carried out. The article presents reasons for the increase in the number of new districts from 102 to 129 and then to 136 units, primarily due to the extension of their network in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, as well as under pressure from regional representatives. The complexity of the issue of forming a network of new districts and their centres are described on the example of Chernihiv region. It is determined that the average population of the project district in Ukraine is 303 thousand people, the population of the centre of administrative units of the subregional level, 130 thousand people. The significant disparities (from 58 to 362 times) in the population of new districts and their centres were defined. Based on the calculations, it was found that 26,5 % of new districts have less population than that determined by the methodology of forming administrative units of the subregional level (150 thousand people). The situation with the population of district centres is similar. Almost 50 % of subregional centres approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine account for less than 50 thousand people, which may be an obstacle to form high-quality human resources of the executive bodies. It is defined that the competition between cities for the status of the new district centre is due to the desire of local elites to retain control over certain areas. The ambiguous attitude to the issue of creating administrative units of the subregional level on ethnic grounds (Bolhrad and Berehovo districts) among experts and regional elites is pointed out. The list of personnel, financial, property issues that need to be resolved in order to build an effective executive branch in Ukraine at the subregional level has been determined.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 63-70
Author(s):  
MAHMOUD AHMAD RABAYA FUAD ◽  

The urgency of the issue is determined by the disregard of the international community, especially the United States and its allies, of the will of the Palestinian people to create their own state. The article is devoted to the problem of creating a sovereign Palestinian state. Palestine currently remains a hostage of intermediary States, especially the United States, which does not allow direct negotiations with Israel on the return of the occupied territories, the solution of the refugee issue, the regulation of the status of Jerusalem, and other problems. The Palestinian authority does not have state sovereignty as an integral state entity. The author, after analyzing various projects on the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, comes to a disappointing conclusion that it is impossible to achieve the goal of creating a Palestinian state through the assistance of the international community, primarily the United States and the European Union. Due to the current circumstances, it is not possible to hold direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. As a conclusion, it is noted that the us monopoly influence on the negotiation process is not productive. To solve this problem, we need a wider range of intermediaries, including international organizations, global and regional actors. Success is possible if the leadership of Israel is inclined to compromise, agreement is reached in Israeli society on the creation of a Palestinian state, and internal contradictions are overcome in the Palestinian society, first of all, the intra-elite split, which further pushes the prospect of the creation of a state of Palestine. The work is based on General scientific research methods and works of Russian and foreign researchers. Empirical data are taken from open sources.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurora Ndreu

One of the main requirements of the European Union for countries that want to integrate this supra-national body, is the creation of large administrative units, in order to absorb easily and efficiently the funds obtained from pre-accession scheme. Through this reform it is meant to be achieved a good management of allocated funds regarding the socio-economic development of the countries.Given that the old territorial-administrative system that existed until 2014 when was adopted the new reform, had created imbalance between the development of regions and local units, unnecessary high costs merely used for operative expenses and staff salaries, not functioning properly of the local units and above all lack of public services delivery to citizens. As a result it was necessary to undertake a new reform where would be offered a new model of efficient organization.The goal of reform should be the creation of local communities with a strong autonomy, capable of having the necessary capabilities and tools to encourage local development in all its aspects. In connection with the need for undertaking such a reform and its impact on the economy was agreed between political parties and throughout civil society. Problems and disputes between the parties began regarding the modus operandi of the drafting and implementation of the reform. In this paper I will show how the new territorial-administrative reform was drafted and adapted. The problems behind the theoretical drafting and putting it in practice. The impact in the development of the economy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 338 ◽  
pp. 277-285
Author(s):  
Katja Posselt

The digital transformation poses major challenges for local authorities. In order to keep pace with modern development, various basic administrative procedures need to be digitized. The status of digitization in German municipalities demonstrates that they are reaching their limits. As administrative units are to be considered as an interface between society and state, the following paper will focus on this topic. This paper reflects on the necessary expansion of eGovernment services in local authorities against a European background, with the aim of bringing together the European and municipal levels. The European Union (EU) has set itself the goal of contributing to the modernisation of digital public services and serving as a catalyst through various programs. This paper discusses to what extent the EU achieves its stated goal and whether its actions generate added value in local authorities by using eInvoicing as an example. With the Directive 2014/55/EU the EU set a standard, henceforth all European public administrations must be able to accept invoices in electronic format from their suppliers. The paper aims to demonstrate the significance of the above stated directive, with a specific focus on local authorities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 751-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Bauböck

European Union citizenship is derived from Member State nationality. This fact often has been considered a “birth defect” to be overcome by either disconnecting EU citizenship from Member State citizenship or by reversing the relationship in a federal model so that Member State citizenship would be derived from that of the Union. I argue in this essay that derivative citizenship in a union of states can be defended as a potentially stable and democratically attractive basic feature of the architecture of the EU polity where EU citizenship is perceived of as one layer in a multi-level model of democratic membership in a union of states such as the EU. This perspective is not a defense of the status quo, but rather allows for—or even requires—a series of reforms addressing a number of inconsistencies and democratic deficiencies in the current citizenship regime.Most academics writing about Union citizenship tend to compare it to that which they know best: Nation State citizenship. It then comes as no surprise when they conclude that the current construction of EU citizenship is internally incoherent, externally not sufficiently inclusive, and also lacking in democratic legitimacy. To a certain degree, I agree with this criticism; however, such authors often apply the wrong standard of comparison and therefore are likely to promote faulty solutions. As the EU Treaties clearly have spelled out since the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, EU citizenship is complementary or additional to Member State nationality without replacing it. National citizenship is a constitutive element of EU citizenship and therefore cannot serve as an external standard of comparison.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-803
Author(s):  
Tetyana Oleksandrivna Karabin ◽  
Oleksandr Bilash ◽  
Roman Fridmanskyy ◽  
Vasyl Tymchak

The obligations assumed by the Ukrainian state by ratifying the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union have become a reference point for transformations taking place in various spheres of public life, including local self-government. The article analyzes Ukraine's compliance with EU requirements regarding local self-government organisation, achievements in this field, and determining the prospects for reform. The analysis is grouped into four blocks: implementation of administrative and territorial reform; budget decentralisation; optimization of the organization of local public authorities (executive bodies formation of regional (oblast) and district (rayon) councils, the establishment of prefectures); land reform (transfer of land management to communities). The powers of local self-government bodies and state bodies were transformed in implementing municipal, territorial, fiscal and land reforms. However, further reforms are impossible without amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the decentralisation of power), the adoption of new legislative acts (on the principles of the administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine, on prefectures), as well as amendments to some existing ones (on local self-government, etc.).


2007 ◽  
pp. 5-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Searle

The author claims that an institution is any collectively accepted system of rules (procedures, practices) that enable us to create institutional facts. These rules typically have the form of X counts as Y in C, where an object, person, or state of affairs X is assigned a special status, the Y status, such that the new status enables the person or object to perform functions that it could not perform solely in virtue of its physical structure, but requires as a necessary condition the assignment of the status. The creation of an institutional fact is, thus, the collective assignment of a status function. The typical point of the creation of institutional facts by assigning status functions is to create deontic powers. So typically when we assign a status function Y to some object or person X we have created a situation in which we accept that a person S who stands in the appropriate relation to X is such that (S has power (S does A)). The whole analysis then gives us a systematic set of relationships between collective intentionality, the assignment of function, the assignment of status functions, constitutive rules, institutional facts, and deontic powers.


Author(s):  
Chris Himsworth

The first critical study of the 1985 international treaty that guarantees the status of local self-government (local autonomy). Chris Himsworth analyses the text of the 1985 European Charter of Local Self-Government and its Additional Protocol; traces the Charter’s historical emergence; and explains how it has been applied and interpreted, especially in a process of monitoring/treaty enforcement by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities but also in domestic courts, throughout Europe. Locating the Charter’s own history within the broader recent history of the Council of Europe and the European Union, the book closes with an assessment of the Charter’s future prospects.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-151
Author(s):  
Andrea Circolo ◽  
Ondrej Hamuľák

Abstract The paper focuses on the very topical issue of conclusion of the membership of the State, namely the United Kingdom, in European integration structures. The ques­tion of termination of membership in European Communities and European Union has not been tackled for a long time in the sources of European law. With the adop­tion of the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), the institute of 'unilateral' withdrawal was intro­duced. It´s worth to say that exit clause was intended as symbolic in its nature, in fact underlining the status of Member States as sovereign entities. That is why this institute is very general and the legal regulation of the exercise of withdrawal contains many gaps. One of them is a question of absolute or relative nature of exiting from integration structures. Today’s “exit clause” (Art. 50 of Treaty on European Union) regulates only the termination of membership in the European Union and is silent on the impact of such a step on membership in the European Atomic Energy Community. The presented paper offers an analysis of different variations of the interpretation and solution of the problem. It´s based on the independent solution thesis and therefore rejects an automa­tism approach. The paper and topic is important and original especially because in the multitude of scholarly writings devoted to Brexit questions, vast majority of them deals with institutional questions, the interpretation of Art. 50 of Treaty on European Union; the constitutional matters at national UK level; future relation between EU and UK and political bargaining behind such as all that. The question of impact on withdrawal on Euratom membership is somehow underrepresented. Present paper attempts to fill this gap and accelerate the scholarly debate on this matter globally, because all consequences of Brexit already have and will definitely give rise to more world-wide effects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Mbuzeni Mathenjwa

The place and role of local government within the structure of government in Africa has attracted much public interest. Prior to and after independence, African countries used local government as the administrative units of central governments without their having any legal status, to the extent that local authorities were under the strict control of central governments. The autonomy of local government is pivotal in the democratisation of a country. The United Nations, European Union and African Union have adopted treaties to promote the recognition and protection of local government in the state parties’ constitutions. Accordingly, this article explains the status of local government in Africa and its impact on strengthening democracy in African states.


2021 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 402-442

Economics, trade and finance — Food imports — Import of foodstuffs originating from East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights into the European Union — Labelling of products — Whether products originating from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories must be labelled as such — Observance of international law — Whether foodstuffs coming from settlements established in breach of rules of international humanitarian law — Ethical considerations — Purchasing decisions of consumers — Misleading of consumers Relationship of international law and municipal law — European Union law — Treaty on European Union, 1992 — Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 2007 — EU Customs Code — Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 — Consistent interpretation of EU law — Interpreting Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 in manner consistent with international law — Notions of “State”, “territory” and “place of provenance” — Referral of questions by national court to Court of Justice of European Union Territory — Status — Occupation — Occupied Territories in which State of Israel Occupying Power — East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights — Rules of international humanitarian law — Israel having limited jurisdiction — Israeli settlements in Occupied Territories — Palestinian people of West Bank enjoying right to self-determination — Golan Heights part of territory of Syrian Arab Republic — Import of foodstuffs into European Union — Labelling of products — Whether products originating from Israeli settlements in Occupied Territories must be labelled as such — Observance of international law — Whether foodstuffs coming from settlements established in breach of rules of international humanitarian law — Ethical considerations — Purchasing decisions of consumers — Misleading of consumers War and armed conflict — International humanitarian law — Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949 — Article 49 — Obligation of States not to “deport or transfer part of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” — Impact on labelling of products originating in Occupied Territories — Status of East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan Heights as Occupied Territories — Whether products originating from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories must be labelled as such — The law of the European Union


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