KIEV, April 24 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s parliament-appointed government says it is ready to make amendments to the country’s constitution to expand the competences of regions, although it can be done only by the end of the year.
Thus, parliament-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman, who is in charge of issues of regional development, construction and the housing sector, said on Thursday that it was necessary to formalize in legislation the rights of region to a share of national taxes. “We propose to enshrine in law the right of local self-governments to have a part of national taxes, such as corporate income tax and individual income tax, along with local taxes. These taxes will go to local budgets,” he said.
He also said that proposals on the constitutional amendments had been submitted to the parliament’s constitutional commission and would be considered by the Verkhova Rada (parliament) in the autumn. He stressed that the preliminary work on legislative amendments was to be over by the end of 2014.
“The three-level system of power provides for the formation of regional and district executive bodies that would be elected from among lawmakers in local elections,” Groisman said. Regional and district state administrations would be superseded by state representative offices, or prefectures, that would be tasked to fulfill monitoring and coordinating functions on behalf of the state in a particular region. They would coordinate the activities of state inspections and territorial executive authorities in emergency situation.