With each passing year since the start of Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine, municipalities are losing more and more independence. The reason for this is that the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky is concentrating more and more power in its own hands, writes ARD in a report from Kiev.
Decentralization helped protect against Russian attacks
The decentralization of power in Ukraine, which began in 2014, is considered a successful reform, although the process is not yet fully completed. The reform gained momentum especially under former Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman between 2016 and 2019. As a result, municipalities today have much more power than before 2014 – This applies most strongly to large cities, which receive a huge share of tax revenues, but other municipalities also now have significantly more funds, ARD notes.
After Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, it was decentralization that turned out to be the factor that gave the country a decisive advantage, notes Yuriy Hanushczak, a former MP who worked on the reform. "Who supported and supplied the Ukrainian army with the most necessary things in the first phase of the war? Who maintained order when the country was in complete chaos? These were the municipalities. They coordinated, and the decisions they made came at exactly the right moment", says Hanushczak.
Zelensky has imposed military rule in over 200 municipalities
Today, however, many Ukrainian municipalities are no longer so independent, notes ARD correspondent Florian Kellermann. President Zelensky has imposed martial law in over 200 municipalities, half of which are in territory not occupied by Russia. These include large cities such as Chernihiv, the capital Kiev, and recently Odessa.
According to Zelensky's critics, such decisions are often unnecessary. Oleksandr Sloboshan, chairman of the Association of Cities, says that where there is functioning local government, it should be preserved even in wartime: “Local government is closer to citizens. There are such examples of municipalities that were liberated from Russian occupation. In municipalities where there is self-government, recovery is faster. The contact between decision-makers and citizens is closer, citizens are more satisfied“.
We are talking about control over money
According to Yuriy Hanushchak, Zelensky's decisions are often not motivated by military security. "The main motive for introducing military rule is money. It's about access to budget funds," he says. That is, it's about who makes the decisions, what municipalities should spend their money on, and who should receive public contracts.
“The law requires parliament to decide whether a military administration has the right to dispose of a city's budget. In the case of Chernihiv, however, parliament voted against it. However, the military administration has enough power to make the final decision on the budget. Ultimately, the military and law enforcement agencies are subordinate to the president,“ Hanushchak explains to ARD.
Pressure on municipalities is sometimes exerted through judicial investigations against local politicians. In Chernihiv, the mayor lost his post in this way. Two years later, the representative of the municipal council, who had temporarily taken over his functions, also resigned. He said that the military administration threatened him that it would leave the city in chaos if he did not resign. Now the military administration convenes the meetings of the city council, and the head of the military administration makes decisions on the budget.
Klitschko: "It smells of authoritarianism"
The biggest critic of these practices is the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko. In May, he said that the country smells of authoritarianism. And the exceptions from other cities only confirm the rule, says expert Hanushchak, citing Poltava as an example. The mayor there also lost his post, but military rule was not imposed, since the secretary of the city council, who automatically replaced him in the post, is a representative of President Zelensky's "Servant of the People" party, Hanushchak added.
But the pressure on local politicians is constantly increasing - including in municipalities where there is no military rule, says Oleksandr Slobosan. The government wants to keep a smaller share of the general income tax in the municipalities in future. “When a municipality has fewer funds, but its obligations remain the same, this increases the pressure on local politicians. It becomes more difficult for them to fulfill their obligations“, adds Slobosan. And in this way they can more easily be held accountable: “We are fighting against this”, says the chairman of the Association of Cities.
Author: Florian Kellermann ARD