On September 30 Brussels hosted the first meeting of the EU Committee of the Regions (CoR)and Ukraine on the decentralization reform.

The delegation of Ukraine was represented by First Deputy Minister of Regional Development of Ukraine V.Nehoda, Head of Kharkiv Regional Council, the president of the association of district and town councils S.Chernov. The legislative process of preparing of the reforms in Ukraine was presented by the MPs of Ukraine O.Goncharenko and O.Yednak and expert of the International Institute of External Relations R.Tomenchuk.

From the European side, the Working Group included the President of the EU Committee of the Regions M.Markkula, vice president of the CoR K.H.Lambertz and leaders of political groups of the CoR.

The decision to create working group (task-force) in the EU Committee of the Regions  to support the constitutional reform in Ukraine in terms of decentralization was adopted on 27 February in Brussels in the framework of the meeting of the CoR President M.Markkula with the Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine V.Hroysman.

A key objective of the event was to discuss the prospects of implementation of the reform of the decentralization in Ukraine from the 1 January 2016. The first meeting is intended to form a holistic vision of the progress of constitutional reform in Ukraine and to discuss the concept of the Working Group CoR-Ukraine to support the implementation of reforms in Ukraine by the EU institutions.

Decentralization reform in Ukraine has priority in the foreign policy dimension of the EU Committee of the Regions. The working group (task-force group) is set to support administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine, encouraging local authorities and local communities to major changes.