News

On 16 September 2010 IWP held an expert discussion on the topic “Decentralization of Foreign Policy: Spanish experience for Ukraine”.The event was realized as a part of the project “Foreign Policy Administration in the European Union and Post-Soviet Countries” and supported by the Open Society Institute. {2}The project is aimed at studying best European practices of foreign policy decentralization and making recommendations for Ukraine.
Kateryna Zarembo, IWP analyst, moderated the discussion and presented the first working paper of the project “Spain: Unity in diversity”.
The event was opened by IWP deputy director Sergiy Solodkyy. Mr Solodkyy pointed out that the discussion was a part of a larger project which the Institute is carrying out. He stressed that at that initial project stage expert feedback was especially important and would undoubtedly influence and enrich the final document.
Kateryna Zarembo, IWP analyst and project manager, named three reasons for discussing foreign policy decentralization in Ukraine. {4} Firstly, Ukraine’s regions have diverse geopolitical interests and lack capacity to realize them, which brings about social unrest. Secondly, the regions of Ukraine are not ready for European integration, as they are poorly involved in the decision-making in the country. In its turn, the European Union is active in engaging the regions of all Member States in the decision-making process through a special pan-European body – the Committee of Regions. Thirdly, the Ukrainian regions take little part in the EU cross-border cooperation programs, meaning that the valuable funds for regional development are missed.
Antonio Ramos, consul of the Kingdom of Spain in Ukraine, provided his feedback to the report and shared his views on decentralization. {3}In particular, he pointed out that responsible cooperation between the central government and regions in foreign policy sphere is possible given the political will: “If a country has a common aim, which is shared by the authorities at different levels, then decentralization works”.
Representatives of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Regional Development and Construction of Ukraine, local authorities, leading Ukrainian experts and media took active part in the debate.{1}
You can download the full version of the report here.