Poland among leaders of expert support for Ukraine

12 April 2014

 

Poland among leaders of expert support for Ukraine

Self-government reform in Ukraine and Poland’s local administration experience dominated the agenda of a visit that a Polish delegation headed by chief of the President’s Chancellery Jacek Michałowski paid to Kyiv on Monday.

While in the Ukrainian capital city, the delegation, which included representatives of the President’s Chancellery and the MFA (Eastern and Development Cooperation Departments), met with Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman, Foreign Minister Andrii Deschytsya, and the acting chief of the President’s staff Serhiy Pashynsky. Among the Polish officials were also experts on self-government reform and members of the Union of Polish Poviats and Union of Polish Cities.

 

The talks in Kyiv covered ways of tapping into Polish experience, especially in terms of preparing and carrying out a self-government reform, putting in place an efficient system of the central government’s local administration, and dividing responsibilities among different tiers of administration.

 

The trip to Kyiv represents the first stage of the Polish government’s support for the new Ukrainian authorities’ planned self-government reform, a project that was announced during the recent visit to Warsaw by Ukraine’s Vice PM Volodymyr Hroisman. The Polish government will allocate approx. PLN 0.4 million in expert assistance to Ukraine’s regional reform.

 

On Monday, the Polish delegation also visited the Maidan, where it lay flowers at the Heavenly Hundred’s memorial, and held talks with the Euromaidan Council’s representatives.