The High-level Dialogue II "Good Democratic Governance in Ukraine: achievements, challenges and the way forward in post-war period" took place in Kyiv on 4 December 2023. Following discussions moderated by the Council of Europe representatives, key national stakeholders, including representatives of the Parliament of Ukraine, Office of the President of Ukraine, Ukrainian Government, of the Central Election Commission, reached a broad agreement on further actions to improve legal framework on multi-level governance and elections in line with the European standards, good practices and with the view of Ukraine's EU candidate status.
Participants discussed next steps in advancing local self-government reform which is an integral part of the roadmap on good democratic governance in Ukraine. The parties discussed the draft law on the reform of local state administrations and introduction of the legality supervision over local authorities' decisions (draft law No. 4298), key milestones and conditions for re-instating local self-government and transition from military administrations to regular (civilian) legal regime. Other issues on the agenda included division of competences between the state and local governments, preconditions for sustainability, and irreversibility of the decentralisation reform.
The Council of Europe's Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity organised and facilitated the discussion, in co-operation with the secretariats of the Venice Commission, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of local and regional authorities.
The High-level Dialogue was launched in the Council of Europe in November 2022 following the initiative of the Parliament, Government and Central Election Commission of Ukraine. Its subsequent final document - Joint Declaration - was signed by Deputy Secretary General Bjorn Berge and First Vice-Speaker of the Parliament Oleksandr Korniyenko. The event was conducted within the framework of the Council of Europe projects on "Strengthening Good Democratic Governance and Resilience in Ukraine" and "Supporting democratic post-war elections in Ukraine" implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine "Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction" for 2023-2026.
