Failure of Land Reform and Unexpected Turn in Local Self-Government Reforms: What’s Behind the Collapse of Bill No. 13150
The current political and legal landscape in Ukraine has once again plunged the country’s decentralization reforms into a deadlock.
Bill No.
13150, aimed at implementing substantial changes to legislation to improve the legality of local government activities and ensure transparency in their decisions, failed to garner sufficient parliamentary support.
This setback has significantly complicated further decentralization efforts and highlighted the crisis in supporting fundamental reforms across the nation.
The primary initiator and profile subcommittee head of the Verkhovna Rada, Vitaliy Bezgin, explained that the voting failure was caused by several factors, including inadequate communication within parliament, sharp political disagreements, and difficulties in achieving consensus among factions.
One of the main obstacles was the opposition from the Association of Cities of Ukraine, which refused to support the idea of a unified registry of local authority decisions.
According to Bezgin, the chaotic procedures used to advance the bill, combined with the inability to reach a holistic consensus, led to its collapse.
He also noted that ongoing political crises and internal disagreements hinder effective decision-making, making systemic reforms in local governance unlikely in the near future.
The inability to move forward underscores that systemic change in Ukraine’s administrative decentralization faces significant challenges due to unstable political will and ineffective communication.
Consequently, this failure compels the government and higher authorities to seek new avenues for constructive legislative initiatives that can reconcile diverse interests of regional associations and experts.
Bezgin emphasized that a new, consensus-building bill should be drafted to satisfy all stakeholders, including regional associations and policy experts.
Nevertheless, he pointed out that ongoing political instability and distrust make rapid systemic reform improbable, with only partial, compromise-based legislative solutions feasible in the near term, addressing urgent issues of governance and decentralization infrastructure.
This situation highlights the necessity to maintain stability and functional administration while considering the operational challenges posed by ongoing warfare and economic crises.
In conclusion, the collapse of Bill No.
13150 underscored the complexity and contradictions within Ukraine’s reform process, which demands not only legislative efforts but also dialogue among all branches of government, regional authorities, and civil society.