Bold statements about the decentralization successes have come to an end as far as there are no real successes. According to OPPOSITION PLATFORM — FOR LIFE MP Serhiy Lovochkin, the real fiscal autonomy of local budgets has deteriorated over the past years, and the state needs a real reform that will delegate authority, not budgets to local governance.

“The share of revenues of local budgets without transfers in the consolidated budget remains consistently lower than before the reform of the inter-budget relations. Last year, the share of such revenues reached 22.3 percent against 23.6 percent in 2013. If this is a reform, then it is directed against the regions, not in their favor,” Lovochkin said.

According to him, the revenues of local budgets fell by quarter in dollar terms, from $27.6bln in 2013 to $20.7bln in 2018. In addition, a number of financial obligations have been assigned to the regions over the past three years, leading to collapse of the social sphere in a number of areas.

“After the election, we will pose the question of the real decentralization reform that will consolidate its basic principles and strengthen the powers of local self-government in the Constitution. We will conduct a fair tax reform, expanding the amount of funds that will remain in local budgets. Finally, we will eradicate transfers of unfunded delegated expenses. After such a reform, the regions will indeed receive an incentive to develop,” Lovochkin believes.