The development of local self-government in the Republic of Lithuania in the postoccupation period: experiences for modern Ukraine

Abstract

The article is aimed at studying the process of local self-government development in Republic of Lithuania: its catalysts, both positive and negative; external and internal factors; key events and periods; fundamental concepts. In order to be more representative, the paper focuses on the problematic aspects that are relevant for today's Ukraine in the context of decentralization reform: 1) administrative and territorial structure reform (the analysis of key acts, existing models of administrative and territorial structure and system of organization of local self-government bodies of Republic of Lithuania); 2) the problem of balance and funding of own and delegated powers (the relevant legislation has been reviewed, the role of the Association of Lithuanian Local Self-Government Bodies in the process of negotiations with the state in terms of delegation and funding has been disclosed); 3) financial autonomy (Lithuanian practices, risk factors and impact of global crisis phenomena were investigated and real statistics on the results of Ukraine's financial decentralization were presented); 4) state administrative supervision (attention was focused on the mechanisms of interaction of state officials involved in supervision with local self-government bodies, representatives and associations demonstrating a deep crisis and lack of dialogue between the state and local self-government in Ukraine's today).

The study resulted in a number of conclusions regarding the existing reform potential of the Ukrainian local self-government system and recommendations on the first-priority measures to be taken in this sector: 1) the necessity of completing the final stage of decentralization reform and introduction of the necessary amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine no later than 2021 was highlighted; 2) The importance of developing a minimum of conceptual provisions for the adaptation of mechanisms for conducting local elections at the end of 2020 has been established, as the unfinished reform will catalyze problems in this process; 3) several threats to Ukraine's adherence to the Eurointegration course in the conditions of the global pandemic, domestic and global economic crisis in the process of completing decentralization reform, which is carried out without ensuring a dialogue between the stakeholders and constructed based on merely political decisions, are justified.