On the windowsills of apartments in Polish cities you can see unusual appliances to scare away the pigeons, while on the roofs there are systems, which prevent formation of icicles, presenting danger for residents in winter. Care about ordinary citizens became possible as a result of successful conduction of local self-government reform in the country 25 years ago. A third of the national budget is targeted at self-government bodies. According to the Centre for research of public opinion, the level of trust to local authorities last year (58% of respondents) exceeded respective indicators for the parliament and political parties.

Ukraine is only making the first steps in this direction. A study trip (training visit) to Poland on local self-government issues has been recently organized for representatives of our central and local authorities by «SolidarityFundPL» (Polish Foundation for International Solidarity), Swiss-Ukrainian project “Decentralization support in Ukraine” and “Centre for European Cooperation” (funded by the grant from Polish-Canadian democracy support programme).

 Successful reform became possible thanks to its authors – academics Jerzy Regulski from Lodz and Michal Kulesza from Warsaw. Poles admit that they developed gmina-based (not powiat-based or wojewodstwo-based) government, one of the strongest local self-governments in Europe… accidentally. Communist authorities did not grant the permission to create a three-tiered self-government system: “gmina-powiat-wojewodstwo”; “green light” was granted only to gmina, which became the basic local self-government unit in Poland (powiat is the middle-level administrative unit, while a wojewodstwo is the largest one). It should be added, that Ukraine borrowed the three-link administrative and territorial organization of “community-raion-region” from Polish practice.

Gminas appeared as a result of adoption of the Law “On local self-government” in 1990. All competencies, which could be imagined, were delegated to gmina level. When in 1998, at the second stage of the reform, powiats and wojewodstwos were created, it turned out that little authority and assets was left for them. That is why Polish self-government is based on the power of gmina, which takes care of communal economy, social support, healthcare services, and primary education.

For instance, the representatives of the union of village gminas of Republic of Poland (RP), are proud that funding of education of one primary school pupil amounts to 4.5 thousand zlotys or 1.2 thousand dollars a year (wealthier ones spend up to 8.8 thousand zlotys or 2.3 thousand dollars). School not only educates, but also feeds its students with breakfasts and lunches. Thanks to gmina financing, every schoolchild got 14 kilos of apples last year.

Gmina revenues are formed by several sources. The largest share within them is represented by target dotations and subventions (40-60%), 20-40% are tax incomes, while 10-20% are incomes from economic activity. A serious “power-up” for gminas is provided by European funds. They are distributed, mainly, on competitive basis, according to applications from respective territorial units. The funds are managed by Polish ministries of wojewodstwos (marzsaleks). Competition conditions depend on project types: local contribution may vary between 15% and 50%. It can be paid in cash, assets, or workforce. Integrated territorial investments (for instance, intended for support of technical vocation schools) are funded out of competition.

“Gmina is like a woman. She is not always satisfied. People migrate to places where services are better. I am often asked: what a Polish wojt (head of village gmina) is looking for in Brussels?” says the secretary of the Union of village gminas of RP Leszek Szwietalski.

In his opinion, the interests of Polish gminas are almost the same as the interests of French of English ones. In their activity they refer to 75% of EU legislation, adopted in Brussels. And beneficiaries of 80% of finances from the funds of European community are village gminas (in the EU 40% of rural population occupy 90% of territories).

Provide an impulse

Public services outside gmina competencies are provided by powiats (employment service, police, fire department, hospitals, child care centres, registration of transportation means etc). Wojewodstwo plans and supports the development of the region. Particularly, it handles environmental protection, specialized hospitals, museums, and theatres. During emergencies it is the wojewoda who coordinates the interaction of different services.

For example, 10 years ago a pharmacy company in one of the wojewodstwos made a mistake while packing anti-allergy medicines and used the components presenting deadly danger. It was suspected that a pat of the medicines was sold. The wojewoda coordinated the activities of police and pharmacological inspectors (the later were brought to pharmacies by police officers, and checked addresses on prescriptions there). Police informed the patients and confiscated the medicines. Not a single service could manage the task on its own.

In spite of successes in local self-government, Poles improve respective legislation. “We are thinking of reduction of cities with powiat status (they have more than 100 thousand residents, or they ceased to be wojewodstwo centres on December 31, 1998. There are 66 of them in Poland). The draft law, presented to the Sejm, includes a proposal to allow a mayor of such a city, to manage the resources for maintenance of all roads within his territory”, says the director of the Bureau of the Association of Polish Cities, Andrzej Porawski.

“A map of 16 wojewodstwos (there should have been 10) is the result of numerous political compromises. We planned to have 150 powiats, but instead we have 314. However, we managed to preserve the main thing – the three levels of self-government. So far, we have a flow of funds from Europe, and it is good, but later on maintenance of small wojewodstwas will present a problem. Where a powiat is small, half of funds is spent on administration. Every compromise has its consequences”, admits the Marszalek of Wielkopolskie Wojewodstwo, Marek Wozniak.

Ukraine used the Polish experience in the Concept of reformation of local self-government. The credit of Polish experts lies in development of proposals for amendments to the Constitution, Budget, and Tax codes (introduction of new excise tax and property tax). Thanks to these taxes, local budgets of our country received additional 10 billion UAH during the five months of the current year.

Maciej KOZIK, director of Wielkopolski centre of local self-government:

 – In Wielkopolska, at the start of the reform, 80% of people elected to new councils never worked there before. They were farmers, teachers, academics, small business representatives. They elected the new mayors, of whom 70% did not work in administrations. There was a lot of propaganda both for the reform and against it. Opponents of the reform said we were giving a grenade to a monkey. Proponents said we should finally take the lead. Poles wanted to make decisions concerning their lives themselves.

Volodymyr KURENNOY, chairman of department of local self-government and decentralization of the Administration of the President of Ukraine:

Long ago, in 1988-89, I took the internship in Poznan as a student. It did not differ much from grey Soviet cities. Now I’ve come to Poznan after a long break and the changes are fascinating! It is a real European city with good roads and modern infrastructure. These positive changes were achieved by the city, first and foremost, thanks to the local self-government reform, conducted in the country. 

This is the best proof of the fact that Polish decentralization model is the most optimal one for Ukraine. We must take the best practices and avoid the mistakes. We will be able to accomplish this, if we avoid the key threat, which became a tradition in Ukrainian reforms, i.e. if we do not politicize decentralization, and if we do not turn the decentralization process into a subject of political bargaining. Poles achieved a consensus on reformation of local self-government at the historic round table of 1989. And their success followed shortly afterwards. Ukrainian politicians must achieve agreement on decentralization, because that is what our society wants.

 Victoria Kovalyova,

“Uriadovy Kurier” (“Governmental Courier”)