ON UKRAINE'S INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS IN THE SPHERE OF REGIONAL POLICY AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION

Interaction with international actors is a significant factor in improving regional governance in Ukraine. Currently, the reform program in this area is the Plan Ukraine Facility, which was developed in the context of the EU decision to provide Ukraine with macro-financial assistance. The purpose of the article is to analyze Ukraine’s commitments to reforms in the field of regional policy and local government in accordance with this document, the progress and prospects for their implementation. Institutional, chronological, comparative, etc. methods were used. The Ukraine Facility provides for three groups of reforms in the field of regional governance. First, the promotion of decentralization reform. This concerns the formation of local state administrations of the prefectural type, revision of legislation on local self-government, and the distribution of powers between the central, regional, subregional, and local levels, in particular in the context of recovery. The distribution scheme was made public at expert discussions held under the auspices of a specialized parliamentary committee. The third part of this group of reforms is amendments to the Constitution in terms of decentralization. According to the Roadmap for Decentralization approved by the government, they will take place after the lifting of martial law. The most difficult will be the adoption of the Law “On the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine”, since, unlike 2020, it should also affect the subnational level. Secondly, the Ukraine Facility plans reforms to democratize local self-government and involve citizens in decision-making. Some of the envisaged laws have been adopted. But, given corruption among local elites, democratization will be a long process. It is associated with the socio-economic and cultural development of communities, the formation of self-government in the housing sector, and the development of self-organization bodies of the population. Thirdly, the Ukraine Facility provides for strengthening the development and implementation of regional policy, in particular, updating the State Strategy for Regional Development. In August 2024, the government approved a new edition of the Strategy for 2021-2027. The strategic goals have not changed compared to 2021, but the specifics of the current situation are embedded in operational goals and tasks by directions. An analysis of these commitments of Ukraine shows that the political aspects of decentralization and regional development policy have not been exhausted. The current tasks are both the formation of political actors who should develop and implement reforms, and the development of reform projects themselves. An important actor is the international community, on the other hand - residents of communities and regions, civil society, and self-organization bodies of the population. As for professional managers, one of the most relevant is to increase their competence in regional development management.