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Pierre Defraigne: “Ukraine is not ready for decentralization”
Kyiv, December 18. Decentralization may hamper regional development and in the future even pose a threat to Ukraine’s territorial integrity. This is the statement of Pierre Defraigne, economist, Åxecutive Director of the Madariaga College of Europe Foundation, European civil servant from 1970 to 2005 and member of the FEG International Advisory Board. This statement was made during the debate “Decentralization will boost regions’ competitiveness”, which was organized by the Foundation for Effective Governance in partnership with the Intelligence Squared.
“First of all, it’s necessary to solve the problems that have become the scourge of the Ukrainian society: political instability, corruption, nepotism, infrastructure deficit. Only then you can opt for decentralization”, said Mr. Defraigne.
Mr. Defraigne also emphasized striking disparities among Ukrainian regions. “Regions in Ukraine trade more with the rest of the world than among themselves”, he noted. The expert also stressed the need of good infrastructural linkages between East and West in Ukraine.
“So, I am a bit skeptical about the theory saying that decentralization would be a miracle in Ukraine today”, stated Mr. Defraigne.
About the debates
The debate “Decentralization will boost regions’ competitiveness”, which was held on December 17 in Kyiv, is the fifth public debate in Ukraine carried out in the Oxford Union style.
The event was organized by the Foundation for Effective Governance in partnership with Britain-based Intelligence Squared.
In 2009, the Foundation held a series of debates (debaty.org) on reforming Ukraine’s economy during the economic crisis. For future debates, such important topics as Ukrainian-Russian economic relations, reform of education, administrative reform, regional economic development, the role of science and education in economic development, and innovation and technologies have been chosen.
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