L&M Finance Group
2019-10-14 15:27

THE VERKHOVNA RADA APPROACHED THE ADOPTION OF THE NEW LAW OF UKRAINE "ABOUT THE CITY OF KIEV – THE CAPITAL OF UKRAINE"

On October 3, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine "On the city of Kiev - the capital of Ukraine", prepared by deputies from the "Servant of the People". In an explanatory note, the authors of the draft law assert that the adoption of the draft law will ensure the proper functioning of local self-government and executive authorities in the city of Kiev, will create an effective balance of authority between representative and executive authorities in the capital of Ukraine, and will help harmonize the state and local interests of the territorial community of Kiev, guarantee the rights of city residents to self-government regarding the possibility of independently solve issues of local importance within the framework of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. How much bright and colorful the new draft law is - Our lawyers have analyzed it in details.
 
Of the main innovations, the following should be highlighted:
  • the system of administrative-territorial structure of the city of Kiev will be the ten districts in the city of Kiev. The boundaries of the city of Kiev will be established by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in accordance with the proposal of the Kiev City Council. The decision to create, name, transform, liquidate and establish the boundaries of districts in the city of Kiev will be made by the Kiev city administration;
  • provides for the reinstatement of district councils in Kiev;
  • the system of local self-government in Kiev will include: 1) the territorial community of the city of Kiev; 2) Kiev city head (is the main official of the territorial community of the city of Kiev); 3) Kiev City Council (is a representative body of the territorial community of Kiev with 80 deputies); 4) Kiev Magistrate (a new body, which is created by the Kiev City Council and is its executive body); 5) territorial communities of districts in Kiev; 6) district councils in Kiev; 7) district administrations in Kiev, and 8) self-organization bodies of the population.
  • Kiev City State Administration (hereinafter - KCSA) - is no longer an executive body of the Kiev City Council - these bodies are delimited. The KCSA will be the local executive body and will be included in the system of executive bodies. The KCSA will be headed by a chairman who will be appointed to the post and dismissed from it by the President of Ukraine on the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers for the term of office of the President of Ukraine);
  • in every district of the city of Kiev a Town Hall can be created (a separate building, which is the location of the local self-government authorities of the district in the city of Kiev and other bodies that are subordinate to them);
  • create an electronic city office - an electronic system that provides automation of record keeping by a decision of the Kiev city council of public information; and
  • changes are being made to the electoral system in Kiev: the elections of the deputies of the Kiev City Council will be held according to the proportional electoral system in multi-member constituencies; elections of the Kiev city head - under the majority system of absolute majority in a single-member constituency, which coincides with the territory of the city of Kiev, and the election of deputies of district councils - under the majority system in multi-mandate constituencies into which the territory of the district is divided.
 
As we can see, the draft law includes many changes, but at first glance, it can reviewed the following significant negative points:
  • One of the main goals of the draft law was to resume work of the district councils in the city of Kiev. In practice, we see that the creation of such councils is left to be to the Kiev City Council, which may or may not create them;
  • The Constitution of Ukraine clearly covers that the executive power in the regions and districts, cities of Kiev and Sevastopol is carried out by local state administrations, which means that the concept of the Kiev Magistrate does not comply with the Constitution; and
  • at present there is a decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine about that a person elected as the Head of Kiev should be appointed head of the KCSA (which means that until we have the opposite, the concept of the draft law on the appointment of the head of KCSA contradicts it).[1].
 
In general, the draft law brings not to much of positive changes in the life of the capital of Ukraine, but, in our opinion, it contains certain problematic points that need to be improved with the involvement of the general public.
[1] https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/v021p710-03